Stimulus Package, Bailout Now with Strings Attached

As reported at BusinessWeek.com and other outlets today, the Obama administration has put overdue restrictions on the money hemorrhage flowing from D.C. Obama put a cap on executive salaries for companies accepting bailout money. Top executives would be limited to maximum salaries of $500,000 if they accept any stimulus money. Applause and cheers from the Joe Sixpacks who can imagine such salaries was heard around the water cooler. I say, more vicarious power to the people with Congress as our representatives, peace be upon them.

But salary restrictions are only a small start. Hopefully, Obama will have the guts to go all the way and show these greedy companies just who they're fooling. If a company is going to take a handout, make them work for it. In addition to salary caps, put a bureaucrat on the board of directors. Assign OMB auditors to the accounting department. Put GS-09 management trainees in the production plants or, in the case of banks, on the teller line. Load the stimulus package money down with so many strings that no company in its capitalist mind would dare touch one penny.

It's an interesting dichotomy that Democrats see nothing wrong with giving unfettered money away in individual welfare, but will insist on strict policies for corporate welfare. Joe Outofwork doesn't have any rules to follow, other than to prove he at least looked for a job last month, to get his check. Corporations, on the other hand, must now bend to strict, new rules and work for their welfare checks. Congress, you need to either make Joe work for his welfare or give corporations free money. What's the difference here? Simply, corporations don't vote. There is no sense in buying votes giving money to entities who can't vote you back into power.

What brought this to mind was seeing an editor-in-chief (read, highly paid executive), point out this story as "the most important business and economic news today." My immediate thought was, "Sure, for you it is. You're making $300,000. The average, middle-class working person has a hard time wrapping their brain around $500,000 salaries." Unemployed, middle-class American's are going to cheer the new stimulus package conditions. When you're trying to keep the lights on, it's easy to say, "Stick it to the fat cat."

In a way, the caps make common sense. Why reward the captain of a sinking ship? In a way the caps are style of substance. Why give money to the idiot that screwed the pooch in the first place? Make the next bailout condition the firing of the chief-executive-putz who ruined the company last year. That should have Wall Street standing in line to sign up for the program.

The thing that surprises me most about President Obama is his fondness for basketball. He, of all people, should appreciate the fact that fundamentals win the game. Showboating is just a footnote on ESPN's play-of-the-day. Are these new regulations style over substance? You be the judge, but keep in mind, we just elected the first media-star president in history.