The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The measure is not limited just to those firms that received the largest sums of money, or just to the top 25 or 50 executives of those companies. It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.
So basically Frank and his clown car of Dembots think it's perfectly reasonable to exercise 100% government control over a corporation. They're okay with it. One would hope that they would evince some reluctance over such a thing even if deemed necessary, but like Obama on taxes, instead they're eager.
On the one hand I find myself majorly creeped out by that but on the other, I'm getting tired. Sure sure, true Socialism with that capital "S" requires a few systems that we're not trying to put in place now, but socialism with the little "s" is bouncing up from "yeah I know it's there" levels toward "holy crap I exist for the State!" levels. And the number of people I know that fail to see a problem with that truly depresses me.
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This is pretty standard in government contracts. I work for a defense contractor, and we don't get "bonuses," because the government contracts basically don't allow that. The government does this in the defense contracting business to prevent companies from fleecing the taxpayers.
Oh, I'm not arguing the logic of "we have a stake so we get a say" - that is a reasonable tradeoff to me. I'm just concerned about the difference between "I'm reluctant to get involved *because* of the weight I carry" and "Hot damn! Bring on the dancing girls and fire the parking lot attendant who looked at my wife!"
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