Category: Biz and Econ

Discussion on all things business related.

Salary Caps hit Wall Street

Obama’s cap on CEO pay strives to end era of excess | csmonitor.com:

“‘This is America. We don’t disparage wealth. And we believe that success should be rewarded,’ Obama said. ‘But what gets people upset – and rightfully so – are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by US taxpayers.’
The cap on compensation marks a sharp pay cut for executives of some of the largest banks, such as Citigroup and Bank of America.
‘If these executives receive any additional compensation, it will come in the form of stock that can’t be paid up until taxpayers are paid back for their assistance,’ Obama said.”

(Via Christian Science Monitor.)

Contrary to conservative noises about communism, this is quintessentially American capitalist. Now if only corporate boards were actually independent of the executives they are supposed to oversee, we’d have this kind of check and balance all the time.

Stop Snitchin’ SEC Style

Lawmakers Criticize Role of SEC in Madoff Scheme – WSJ.com:

“‘You are both a captive regulator and a failed regulator,’ Harry Markopolos said of the SEC in highly anticipated testimony to a U.S. House subcommittee.
Mr. Markopolos detailed his nine-year effort to alert federal regulators about Madoff, who is accused of engineering one of the largest swindles in U.S. history. The SEC was ‘unable to understand’ the complex financial instruments involved in the alleged fraud, Mr. Markopolos said, and regulators weren’t interested in pursuing investigations against influential firms and investors.”

(Via Wall Street Journal Online.)

Whistleblower ignored. Surprise, surpirse. This is what you get when you have people who hate government, running government. The SEC had no defense either on this.

The group of SEC officials declined to speak specifically about the Madoff case, but said they were doing their best to protect investors.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say we hate fraud,” said Linda Thomsen, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said.
Lawmakers, however, weren’t impressed.
“Your job is to prevent fraud, not to hate it,” Mr. Kanjorski said, alternately describing the SEC’s testimony as “oatmeal” and a “traveler’s guide” that didn’t address the issues exposed by the Madoff case.

Bam!

Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers – Yahoo! News

Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers – Yahoo! News:

“Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. “

(Via Yahoo!News.)

Absolute comedy.

Will the Stimulus Work?

Will the Stimulus Work? | The FactCheck Wire:

“In the meantime, if you want to keep up with the experts and their (sometimes quite technical) arguments for and against the stimulus plan, we suggest Krugman and former Clinton Treasury official Brad DeLong on the pro side and Becker and George Mason’s Tyler Cowen on the con side. The Atlantic’s new Atlantic Business page helpfully breaks down the experts’ arguments for the layperson.”

(Via FactCheck Wire.)

Check out both sides before arriving at an opinion.

Stimulate the Economy

Obama stimulus plan faces changes in Senate – Yahoo! News:

“WASHINGTON – A top Republican called for more mortgage relief and additional tax cuts in President Barack Obama’s massive economic stimulus package as Democrats conceded privately they will drop items that have drawn bipartisan criticism.”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Finally, some sense from the Congress. I’ve been suspicious of them since the TARP fiasco. Whatever happened to good governance? Apparently, once you are in power, it fades into the background. I’ve seen tortured logic trying to justify “pork” projects that don’t stimulate the economy. These projects are to vary degrees laudable and worthy of legislation all on their own, but let’s get real here. Tax cuts and government spending that creates jobs is what is needed. Condoms are not stimulative in the proper sense!

Mad Men

The Word – Mad Men | Wednesday November 19 | ColbertNation.com:

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(Via The Colbert Nation.)

Steve brings the moneytheism gospel.

Op-Ed Columnist – How to Fix a Flat – NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist – How to Fix a Flat – NYTimes.com:

“‘In return for any direct government aid,’ he wrote, ‘the board and the management [of G.M.] should go. Shareholders should lose their paltry remaining equity. And a government-appointed receiver — someone hard-nosed and nonpolitical — should have broad power to revamp G.M. with a viable business plan and return it to a private operation as soon as possible.”

(Via NY Times.)

Amen. Been saying this for all government bailouts. Incompetence should not be rewarded and put in charge of fixing itself.

Why Apple Will Always Be a Hardware Company

Apple earnings, profits, and cash embarrass Microsoft — RoughlyDrafted Magazine:

“While Microsoft executives like to talk about Apple as an insignificant company with less than 5% of the worldwide market share of all PCs and servers sold, the company now has more cash than Microsoft and earns more than half of its profits and over three fourths Microsoft’s revenues.”

(Via RoughlyDrafted Magazine.)

Increasing the Minimum Wage Doesn’t Kill Jobs

Minimum Wage Impacts on Employment: A Look at Indiana, Illinois, and Surrounding Midwestern States:

“These patterns in job growth between 2003 and 2005 indicate that Illinois’ increasing minimum wage rates did not reduce overall employment growth for private employers and preliminary statistical analyses confirm this lack of an impact”

(Via Indiana University.)

Once again we see how ideology is soft-think. This is has been proven over and over, yet we see no public discussion on this at the pragmatic level. Just ideological back and forth. “Fairness” vs. “Jobs.” Whatever. Try “reality.”

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids – Yahoo! News

AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids – Yahoo! News:

“Gov. Sarah Palin’s signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

The closer you look, the less mavericky she gets. Palin is more politician than maverick.