Standing Up for "Obscene" Executive Compensation Packages

As flagged by The Star's Yael T. Abouhalkah, the House passed legislation on Friday to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take risks so big they could bring down the entire economy."  According to the Washington Post, the "ban on risky compensation would apply to any firm with more than $1 billion in assets, including bank holding companies, broker-dealers, credit unions, investment advisers and mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." 

Not surprisingly, House Republicans thought this was a bad idea.  Abouhalkah was not impressed.

The House members who supported the bill are absolutely correct: Companies -- especially those bailed out by U.S. taxpayers -- should be forced to be more judicious in their pay for executives.

Republicans who criticized the bill didn't bring much to the table, frankly.

Their defense -- that the private sector should have the right to decide how much to pay its leaders -- is shallow. Many of these executives were captains of the sinking ships as their companies took on water during the country's recent economic collapse.

Reps. Todd Akin, Roy Blunt, Jo Ann Emerson, Sam Graves and Blaine Luetkemeyer all voted against the bill.