Obama Wants Increased Oversight of Executive Pay at all Banks, not Just TARP Banks … Hello Socialism

Increased oversight of bank executive pay … code for socialism. We did not need further oversight, we needed politicians to do their job and provide some sort of oversight at all. This is just a CYA by politicians and a socialist power grab by Barack Obama. Does anyone really wonder why the stock market continues to struggle? This Monday embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner aims to purchase as much as $1 trillion in troubled assets. That’s correct, tax payer dollars going to pay for toxic debt that no one wants. Hold the phone, as Geithner and Obama roll out yet another spending plan, pay close attention to these comments from The Chosen One … The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks. Not just banks that accept federal TARP money … ALL BANKS!!! Banks that did nothing wrong, were responsible and have effective business models will now be regulated by an Obama socialist government as to how much effective CEO’s and execs are paid. Ceilings on what a productive individual can be paid … Hello Socialism.

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving U.S. government bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last month, as part of the stimulus package, Congress barred top executives at large banks getting rescue money from receiving bonuses exceeding one-third of their annual pay.

How can banks that have nothing to do with the $1 trillion toxic debt buy up be regulated by an overbearing knee-jerk political reaction that is nothing more than a socialist power grab?

The Obama administration is using a multi-pronged attack to get at the heart of the nation’s financial crisis — a mountain of toxic assets weighing on banks’ balance sheets. The plan developed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner aims to purchase as much as $1 trillion in troubled assets, utilizing the resources of the $700 billion bank bailout fund, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The initiative — details are set for release on Monday — will seek to entice private investors, including big hedge funds, to participate by offering billions of dollars in low-interest loans to finance the purchases and also sharing risks if the assets fall further in value. When Geithner unveiled the initial outlines of the administration’s overhaul of the bank rescue program on Feb. 10, the markets took a nosedive. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 380 points as investors expressed disappointment about a lack of details.

 As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner continues to falter in his job and cannot even staff the Treasury department,  Obama continues to defend him. Why shouldn’t he? The MSM continued to defend and make excuses for Barack Obama. Obama and his minions had recently played the doom and gloom card, now suddenly after saying that this is the worst economy since The Great Depression, now Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says she is “incredible confident” the U.S. economy will rebound within a year.

UPDATE I: What does Paul Krugman of NY Times think of the Obama/Geithner economic plan … CASH FOR TRASH.

Over the weekend The Times and other newspapers reported leaked details about the Obama administration’s bank rescue plan, which is to be officially released this week. If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama to recycle Bush administration policy — specifically, the “cash for trash” plan proposed, then abandoned, six months ago by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

This is more than disappointing. In fact, it fills me with a sense of despair.

After all, we’ve just been through the firestorm over the A.I.G. bonuses, during which administration officials claimed that they knew nothing, couldn’t do anything, and anyway it was someone else’s fault. Meanwhile, the administration has failed to quell the public’s doubts about what banks are doing with taxpayer money.