Sunday, March 22, 2009

Obama seeks to regulate ALL bank CEO's pay

We're all familiar now with the AIG bonuses debacle. A group of AIG employees ran their business into the ground, sought a taxpayer-funded bailout, and then walked away with millions of dollars. This is clearly an injustice, which numerous government agencies and authorities are now looking to rectify.

But now the administration is looking for authority to regulate the pay of all bank executives. This means that the government could mandate the maximum amount that your bank - whether a one branch shop or a multinational corporation - can pay the people most responsible for how your money is protected. Presumably a bg part of this will be keeping salaries to "reasonable" levels.

What will this mean? One of two things. Either (1) the smartest people leaving banking for less regulated and thus more dangerous industries (energy conglomerates, perhaps) or (2) the people really running your bank leaving "executive" positions to places on the org chart with equal power but far less accountability. Do either of these options sound good for your future financial safety?

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