Quinnipiac: 81% Of Americans Want Executive Pay Caps
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Business, Money, Polls
Of course this is populist rage, but it goes to show you how angry folks are about how out of whack the pay is right now; especially when it come to corporations that receive bailout money.
American voters say 81 – 16 percent that the government should limit executive compensation at companies receiving federal help, and say 47 – 44 percent that boards of directors and top managers at these companies should be forced to resign, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.Support for income limits is strong among Democrats, Republicans and independent voters and in all income groups, but the call for forced resignations drops as income rises.
So a sign of socialism spreading across the country? No, not really, as the followup question proves…
And voters oppose 64 – 30 percent trying to limit compensation at firms which do not receive federal bail-out funds. Low-income voters oppose such a move 56 – 35 percent.
Here’s the thing…I don’t think caps should be put on corporations in general, but do I think they need to wise up and realize that giving somebody a $20 million bonus for running the company into a ground is grossly irresponsible? Of course.
Do we need to legislate that? Probably not at this point, but it would have been nice to tie executive compensation to real performance instead of perceived. Because when you get to that level and you have so much responsibility for the livelihoods of others, some common sense regulations might not be a bad idea.
What do you think?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 and is filed under Business, Money, Polls. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:53 pm
How about if your company fails, you go bankrupt and lose your job? Oh, wait. Sorry, this is America. The government will bail you out, decide who will be hired for the job and control the type of products you can produce.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I agree with a couple of points in the post: it’s populist outrage and legislation is probably the wrong response. Let me preemptively point out, however, that one does not defend or support ridiculous levels of executive pay by observing that the federal government (or any government, for that matter) should not impose wage caps. Quite apart from the immediate practical and economic impacts, to allow such caps concedes an important premise that will result in later mischief: that there is a legitimate role for government in deciding how much money is too much money for one person to earn.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
We don’t need wage caps…we need corporation law reform that ensures that the system isn’t gamed.
When corporations were first enacted, the idea was that a board of directors, acting on behalf of the owners (shareholders), hired an executive to manage the day to day operations, while the board set long term policy.
What we have now is hundreds of professional directors who are brought in by the CEOs, and no one really gives a crap about the shareholders beyond molifying them with dividends and screw the long term health of the company because all these CEOs and boardmembers will move on to another firm next year.
When the “professional” manager replaced the owner, it was the beginning of the end.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:36 am
I agree with gerryf. The system is currently being gamed. There is complicity between the bod and the ceo. Both are becoming rich at the expense of the employees and shareholders. If you replace the ceo, there is the potential to restructure the bod. If you restructure the bod, there’s the possibility to replace the ceo….Nobody gives a crap about the shareholder.
I don’t agree with caps on compensation as a solution to this problem. I see it as a knee-jerk (populist) reaction to a systemic issue. Unfortunately it may be more politically expedient to enact caps rather than address the root cause.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I think that we should impose a wage cap for all companies. The highest paid person should not make more than 10 times the lowest paid person. So if the lowest paid person makes 20,000 then the highest paid person can’t make more than 200,000. If the lowest paid person makes 30,000 then the highest paid person can’t make more than 300,000. This would include any money that would be reported on a W2 or a 1099. I think this is extremely fair.