| Date: 22/10/2009 Time: 11:04:00 PM |
President Barack Obama on Thursday said the
decision by White House independent "pay czar" Ken Feinberg to slash the
compensation of executives at firms that received large amounts of government
bailout money was an "important step forward."
The US free enterprise system "works best when it rewards hard work," the
President said in remarks at the White House.
"This is America," he said. "We do not disparage wealth. We do not begrudge
anybody for doing well. We believe in success. But it does offend our values
when executives of big financial firms -- firms that are struggling -- pay
themselves huge bonuses even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance
to stay afloat."
Last summer, Obama assigned Feinberg and his team the task of making an
independent judgment on executive pay packages for firms that received
extraordinary assistance from the federal government, the President said.
"He was faced with the difficult task of striking the proper balance
between standing up for taxpayers and returning a measure of stability to our
financial system," Obama said.
Under these competing interests, Obama said he believed Feinberg took an
important step forward by announcing his decision on curbing the influence of
executive compensation on Wall Street "while still allowing these companies to
succeed and prosper."
"But more work needs to be done, which is why I urge the Senate to pass
legislation that will give company shareholders a voice on the pay packages
awarded to their executives," Obama said. "And I urge Congress to continue
moving forward on financial reform that will help prevent the crisis we saw
last fall from happening again."
Feinberg announced that the highest-paid executives affected by his order
will see their compensation cut by about half, on average.
The cuts affect 25 of the most highly paid executives at each of five major
financial companies and two automakers. Cash salaries will be cut by about 90
percent compared with last year. |