I gotta call b.s. on this one:
[Sen. Chris] Dodd also said he thinks it would be a “travesty” not to confirm Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s nomination, and that in the absence of taxpayer money, the government should have no say in banks’ compensation practices.
Maybe Bernanke has performed well enough since the financial crisis set in to warrant keeping his job. But he certainly didn’t earn that with his performance prior to the collapse. It would not be a travesty to hire someone new and untarnished; it would actually be preferable.
As for banks’ compensation, let’s make it about executive corporate compensation in general. Why should we let these people make these enormous sums of money when that value could be rolled back into the company or the shareholders’ pockets. Not only do we have perverse incentives created through these compensation schemes that have led to short-sighted and destructive practices, but that money is drained out of the economy to make immensely rich people even richer. That doesn’t create jobs. That doesn’t lift all boats. It just feeds a culture of grotesque opulence.
I’m all for giving people incentives to get super rich. I’m not for paying people $70 million a year to do a job that is worth no more than a tenth of that.
