Is Barney Frank Retarded?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by AlpineTrout, Mar 17, 2009.

  1. That's just untrue. Warren Buffet doesn't pay his execs like that.

    Sorry, insults won't win this argument. Everyone knows I am one of the most consistent conservatives on this board, but at some point you just have to say, enough.

    These CEO hogs ruined it for everyone. Their greed has empowered a collection of socialists to take over our government.
     
    #21     Mar 17, 2009
  2. Once again, don't buy shares if you don't like the system. Even if you believe the system is "broken", your (and Barney Frank's) idiotic idea of having some kind of government mandate on compensation is a perfect example of the cure being worse than the disease.
     
    #22     Mar 17, 2009
  3. And once the pay is capped for CEO's, guess who's next...
     
    #23     Mar 17, 2009
  4. whenever he opens his flap and makes his usual incoherent babel the market surges, so he's not all that bad.
     
    #24     Mar 17, 2009
  5. Your constant cheerleading on behalf of Jews is becoming quite tiresome. I am sure if you applied yourself, you would find at least one thing about Jews to complain about.
     
    #25     Mar 17, 2009
  6. If the ramifications were just limited to shareholders, your suggestion would be adequate. But they aren't. Seeing a CEO take home $200 mill for running a company into the ground, sending jobs overseas, etc is profoundly demoralizing to employees. They are more incentivized to join unions, furthering the us against them mentality. Bottom line, obscene comp packages are poor leadership. They place the CEO's desires over what is best for the company.

    I really don't think the cure is worse than the disease in this case. Someone has to come up with a number, either the CEO, the Board (which he of course controls), or some outside agency. CEO's and Boards have proved rather conclusively that they cannot be trusted not to loot the company. Perhaps the answer is making exec comp subject to shareholder vote and banning certain forms of compensation, such as incentive options altogether.

    The libertarian argument that the government has no right to interfere with freedom of contract is intellectually appealing, but it has been eroded so frequently in practice that this is a small step. There could also be an unintended benefit. If all these supermen CEOs are unwilling to work for starvation wages, perhaps they will go out and start their own companies. I don't have a problem with Bill Gates getting rich off shares in a company he started. Let's look at this as a way to encourage more of it.
     
    #26     Mar 17, 2009
  7. No, but his boyfriend is.
     
    #27     Mar 17, 2009
  8. Excellent insight and commentary.
     
    #28     Mar 17, 2009
  9. Like shareholders, employees who do not like the compensation policies are free to vote with their feet. By your logic, the government should be setting wage limits on all enterprises, public and private. After all, we can't run the risk of inciting jealousy among the lower rungs.

    Just because the government has decimated the Constitution over the years, should we just say "fuck it" and adopt wholesale a Hugo Chavez brand of populist socialism where free enterprise and contract law are disregarded? That is where we are heading with this kind of nonsense.

    And by the way, the government never produces unintended benefits that are not overwhelmed by the unintended consequences. In this case, it would be the weakening of the public markets, as no successful business owner would take themselves public if it meant giving up that kind of control. Businesses, being more reluctant to access the equity market, would grow more slowly, and investors would find themselves with much fewer investment choices.

    BTW, when that leftist moron Thunderdog is agreeing with you, you know you must be wrong.
     
    #29     Mar 18, 2009
  10. Don't worry.
    The resident idiot has been pm'ing me daily this past week, as if I actually gave a damn . . . I think he needs professional help.
     
    #30     Mar 18, 2009