I’m just guessing, but I think this story is going to get a lot more favorable treatment in Left Blogistan than the toxic assets plan received yesterday.
The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said…
…Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.
It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.
The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort.
The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation.
One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company.
The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money.
You think maybe I am right? You think maybe Obama’s going to need some support for this from Left Blogistan?
“I’m just guessing, but I think this story is going to get a lot more favorable treatment in Left Blogistan than the toxic assets plan received yesterday.”
Maybe, if they calm down enough to read it.
yeah, it’ll get a lot of play on the left, I’d bet mainly for its populist, ‘looking out for the little guy’ appearance. Not that the subject doesn’t need airing…it’s just that I’m not confident the President’s cabinet secretary or advisers are giving him sound advice on the subject, to allow for sound decision-making.
You and bet this will get miles of play from the right as well….they’ll play up the Socialism/Communism angle for all they’re worth (about 3-cents), because it’s just so….un-American…..to limit executive pay. I mean, we’re limiting entrepreneurship, if the execs can’t loot their companies for all they’re worth, y’know?
It’s FDR-Style Fascism on Steroids.
After the AIG bonus-o-rama, I’m thinking there will be a lot more support for this then there would have been, say, 30 days ago.
While limiting executive pay is one idea, how about FIRING THE EXECUTIVES THAT MADE THESE MISTAKES IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Sorry Booman, Some of our so called allies are busy ripping Tim’s plan to sheds. King Krugman hates it and that is all the proof they (TPM and Kos) need. I am so afraid that they are going to torpedo Obama’s chances of getting anything done. They don’t seem to care.
I don’t agree with everything that team Obama’s done either but I do want them to succeed. Obama’s made his decisions and I will back him. I am very disenchanted with the congressional Dems and the left blogesphere. We finally have a Democratic congress and president. It’s sad that Obama may be brought down by the left.
I hear the same arguments today that I heard from Nadar voters in 2000. To this day they think that they were right – after all, Gore was no different than Bush. It will be Obama’s not their fault if Obama fails to push through his agenda.
The left prides themselves on being contrary – the right prides itself on getting “stuff” done. I want to get stuff done
Tell me about it. With respect to nationalization, I feel that it could be one of the solutions to the problem but there are who are acting like it’s the gospel. We are sometimes our worst enemies.
Krugman can’t stand Obama anyway, on a number of levels, so I take some of his criticism with a grain of salt.
It’s not just “King Krugman” that hates this plan. You need to get past your personal issues with Krugman and acknowledge the fact that he’s making sense, and he’s not alone.
On one hand I like the relative speed and convenience of using regulatory changes, but if that’s the route they take, I really hope at some point down the road they’ll come back and pick up the legislative end. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to fiscal sanity only when we have competent presidents.
Or .. maybe bloggers who want to help the administration could concentrate on the actual policy proposal, start talking about it, start analyzing it, start explaining it and start pushing the administration for the details that will make it work, and stop worrying about what the other kids in the in the playground are doing.
This is a step in the wrong direction. Who owns the Fed? Member Banks. Banks are corporations and corporations are being handed the keys to the kingdom on this one.
Giving the Fed oversight power? That’s not very lefty, since the Fed is the ultimate ‘lend money to yourself at a profit’ corporate ponzi scheme, or worse, the ultimate American parasitic debt invention bubble machine that will leave our nation a husk. I don’t like this one bit, no siree.
I’m just guessing, but I think this story is going to get a lot more favorable treatment in Left Blogistan than the toxic assets plan received yesterday.
Maybe that’s true because it’s a good idea to limit the Moral Hazard in our banking (by limiting compensation)? And it’s a bad idea to enable it (by covering their bad bets with Geithner’s plan)? Yeah, that damned Left Blogistan, with their rational analysis and facts and logic…bastards.
You’re right that Obama will need help on this fight. But, because this is a good idea and is a core problem in the banking sector that needs to be solved, he’ll get that help. I guarantee it.
“…Yeah, that damned Left Blogistan, with their rational analysis and facts and logic…”
It is important to remember that Left Blogistan is not an infallible source of rationality and logic. It is made up of human beings, all with their own individual opinions, knowledge bases, and yes, personal agendas.
I have yet to see an economic plan put forth that makes me go “That’s it! The perfect solution!”. You know why?
Because a shit sandwich is still a shit sandwich, no matter what bread you put it on.
All that said, increased regulation needs to be part of the package to make sure we don’t find ourselves in this same situation all over again.
And I can’t believe I have to point that out. It’s as if some people on the left are so numb to the bad stuff, that they’ve given up trying to differentiate between the various levels of bad.
You can imply there are “personal agendas” at work here, but after awhile that looks a little silly. How many economists have come out totally HATING Geithner’s plan? It’s not just Krugman, so get over it.
Yes, nationalization is a shit sandwich. Yes, Geithner’s plan is a shit sandwich. But that doesn’t mean that they’re both equally bad, and thus it just doesn’t matter what we do. That’s lazy.
By personal agenda, I am merely referring to each individual’s personal point of view, nothing nefarious.
I’m also saying that there is no happy plan out there to solve this, they all suck in their own ways.
Thanks for calling me lazy…I’ll just go be more productive now. 🙂
Who knows but he doesn’t care about us and we can’t influence him.