CREDIT CRUNCH
Obama unveils executive pay cap
US resident Barack Obama has announced a $500,000 (approx. £355,000) limit on executive pay at US firms that needed substantial fresh government aid.
Read the full BBC report online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7870638.stm.
Obama's top pay limits have loopholes
President Barack Obama's crackdown on Wall Street pay contains loopholes, and may have limited impact in restraining compensation, the Wall Street Journal claims. Find out more at http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUKTRE5152DQ20090206.
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A final word
“We all need to take responsibility. And this includes executives at major financial firms who turned to the American people, hat in hand, when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves their customary lavish bonuses. As I said last week, that's the height of irresponsibility. That's shameful. And that's exactly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else.
This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we believe that success should be rewarded. But what gets people upset - and rightfully so - are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidised by US taxpayers.
For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste – it's a bad strategy - and I will not tolerate it as president. We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid - so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won't find them up to the same old tricks.” - US president Barack Obama, 4 February 2009.