$18 Billion in bonuses, I wish I worked on Wall Street

In an article from CNN.com Obama denounced the $18 billion in bonuses that employees on Wall Street received last year. He described the bonuses to be from “a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else”.

It is about time that someone stands up to the socially irresponsible executives and put them in their place. In order to help control the use of unethical bonuses, Obama has created a plan that would place limitations on how executives can be paid if they are making over $500,000 a year. If an executive is to make over $500,000 they must be paid the remainder in stock. In addition, the executive cannot sell off the stock until the company has paid back the government. Most importantly, the new rules are going to be implemented by the Treasury Department and therefore do not need be approved by congress.

Obama has also created rules that will allow shareholders of banks to have a larger say in the salaries that are given to the executives. Also, the new rules will make it easier to track money spent on things such as holiday parties and office renovations.

When many of us heard about the huge bailout that was going to save many crooked companies, we were upset that nothing was going to be done to the executives that were spending millions to renovate their offices and millions on their new private jet. It is wonderful to see that Obama is FORCING executives to take responsibility for their unethical actions and is creating rules that force these companies to conduct business, as they should in a responsible manner.

One can only hope that we learn from our mistakes. However, as we all know…history usually repeats it’s self.