I used to think that Kenneth Feinberg had the Worst Job in the World when he was selected to determine the compensation due the 9/11 victims. How can a monetary value be placed on someone’s life?
He may now have the Best Job in the World, deciding compensation for the big shot, fat cat employees of the big shot, fat cat companies that screwed up, helped to ruin the economy, and have accepted government bail-out money.
The Treasury Department on Wednesday appointed a well-known Washington lawyer, Kenneth R. Feinberg, to oversee the compensation of employees at the seven companies — the American International Group, Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.
He will have broad discretion to set the salaries and bonuses for their five most senior executives and their 20 most highly paid employees. …
Mr. Feinberg will also have the right to review the compensation for the 100 most highly paid employees and any other executives. …
Mr. Feinberg will also determine whether it would be in the public interest to force executives at companies receiving assistance who might have been overpaid — for example, if their pay was based on revenue and profit that turned out to be illusory — to return the money. …
His role is certainly not to be punitive, which is how a lot of us would react if put in that position. I mean, for God’s sake, does someone deserve $38 million in salary for running a company that goes bankrupt or fails to such a degree that it needs to be rescued?
If Feinberg were put in charge of the salary of everyone in the world I wonder how he would rule. Does A-Rod deserve $25 million a year? If I remember correctly, Keith Olbermann makes something like $4 million annually and Rush Limbaugh pulls in about $15 million a year. The president makes $400,000 per year. I think schoolteachers average about $40,000/year. I don’t think police or firefighters average in the six-figure range.
Is this effed up, or what?
I think all the high salaried people you named (including my TV buddy KO) earn too much for what they do from an ethical standpoint. But of course that is not the system we have. People generally get paid based on how much money they make someone else.
Comment by Hawaii — 14 June 2009, Sunday @ 00:17:13 |