Angry senator wants pay cap on Wall Street 'idiots'

[Doug]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One day after President Barack Obama ripped Wall Street executives for their "shameful" decision to hand out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008, Congress may finally have had enough.

An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday to cap compensation for employees of any company that accepts federal bailout money. Under the terms of a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, no employee would be allowed to make more than the president of the United States.

Obama's current annual salary is $400,000.

"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer," an enraged McCaskill said on the floor of the Senate. "They don't get it. These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses."

McCaskill's proposed compensation limit would cover salaries, bonuses and stock options.

On Thursday, Obama said the prospect that some of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout could end up paying for bonuses to managers of struggling financial institutions was "shameful."

The president said it was the "height of irresponsibility" for executives to pay bonuses when their companies were asking for help from Washington.

"The American people understand we've got a big hole that we've got to dig ourselves out of, but they don't like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole even as they're being asked to fill it up," Obama added.

McCaskill's proposal comes three days after struggling banking giant Citigroup -- which has taken about $45 billion from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program -- reversed plans to accept delivery of a new $42 million corporate jet. The company changed its mind under Treasury Department prodding.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday defended corporate bonuses, saying that cutting them also means slashing jobs in the Big Apple.

"If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create unemployment," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores, so everything has an impact."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...pay/index.html

I understand what Rudy is saying in the last paragraph, but I don't agree with it.

[RebootedCorpse]

"Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday defended corporate bonuses."

Tells you all you need to know about Rudy

[Marc Lombardi]

I understand what Rudy is saying in the last paragraph, but I don't agree with it.

Yeah. Poor Rudy. Poor New York City. Are taxpayers throughout the country supposed to take a hit because Rudy thinks the bigwigs who live in New York spend all of their money in the city? Big effin deal! What happened to the "From Wall Street to Main Street" crap Rudy and the rest of his party started gabbin' about back in September?

[greg donovan]

this would be like me asking my parents for rent money and then going out and dropping 100 bucks at my LCS after i got the money.

[RickLM]

Wow, Rudy can really be politically tone deaf at times. The economy is awful and he's using supply-side talking points to defend exorbitant bonuses.

And I would love to see the salaries capped at $400,000, which for the Wall Street guys is a humiliatingly low amount of money. Karma.

[Brother Power the Gong]

Where's the 9/11 love, Rudy? You're slipping, man.

[Bill Nolan]

$400,000? LOLZ. Welcome to the Middle Class, Wall Street. This is ridiculously arbitrary and will not fly.

[Treacle]

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday defended corporate bonuses, saying that cutting them also means slashing jobs in the Big Apple.

"If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create unemployment," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores, so everything has an impact."

I'm not an economist so maybe someone can explain this to me...

How does slashing 18 billion dollars worth of bonuses create unemployment? Considering the state our economy is in, it seems the effect would be exactly opposite.

[Ray G.]

$400,000? LOLZ. Welcome to the Middle Class, Wall Street. This is ridiculously arbitrary and will not fly.

Yeah, this is just ridiculous. Federally mandated income restrictions? That IS socialist craziness, and I'm betting Obama's smart enough not to buy into it.

[Brother Power the Gong]

Yeah, this is just ridiculous. Federally mandated income mandates? That IS socialist craziness, and I'm betting Obama's smart enough not to buy into it.

Is it crazy if they are accepting government money to stay afloat?