It seems clear enough to a great many people that there are a lot of overpaid people in America, notably among corporate chieftains and Wall St. managing directors. It also seems that the political moment is ripe for making a change to how the top people get compensated.
Wall St. pay is far out of line with risk. Other people's money (namely shareholders, and the system as a whole).
What about sports and entertainment figures? I'd like to hear the justification for Oprah Winfrey's $1 billion or Tiger Woods's $100 million. We seem entirely willing to accept market-set rates of compensation for people we like, but not for people we don't like. That doesn't make much sense.
Who gets really screwed if we mess with all this? Entrepreneurs, of course. All of the proposals I've seen contemplate overtaxing income rather than wealth. But entrepreneurs are people who, in general, generate high current income when they're successful.
They also tend to generate jobs for other people. Why aren't we talking about how to improve conditions for entrepreneurs? Instead we're talking about creating lots of new jobs (most of which will be overcompensated at unionized rates) by new government programs.
Small businesses often operate on thin capitalizations, and many depend on bank lines for operating capital. Even if business is still good, they need cash to make the goods and services that their customers demand.
That's where the pain is being felt in this economy. We need to make things a lot easier for small businesses to survive the current evil credit conditions, and then give them a leg up to keep growing as things improve.
Instead, we're going to pursue policies that will kill the golden geese.
What about sports and entertainment figures? I'd like to hear the justification for Oprah Winfrey's $1 billion or Tiger Woods's $100 million. We seem entirely willing to accept market-set rates of compensation for people we like, but not for people we don't like. That doesn't make much sense.
Who gets really screwed if we mess with all this? Entrepreneurs, of course. All of the proposals I've seen contemplate overtaxing income rather than wealth. But entrepreneurs are people who, in general, generate high current income when they're successful.
They also tend to generate jobs for other people. Why aren't we talking about how to improve conditions for entrepreneurs? Instead we're talking about creating lots of new jobs (most of which will be overcompensated at unionized rates) by new government programs.
Small businesses often operate on thin capitalizations, and many depend on bank lines for operating capital. Even if business is still good, they need cash to make the goods and services that their customers demand.
That's where the pain is being felt in this economy. We need to make things a lot easier for small businesses to survive the current evil credit conditions, and then give them a leg up to keep growing as things improve.
Instead, we're going to pursue policies that will kill the golden geese.
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