We need to ignore CEO salaries. Seriously. Any proposal to limit them is a red herring, because such proposals are unenforceable.
There are a thousand ways to pay an executive. They can get salary, but if you "cap" salary, they can get options. They can get no-interest loans, the use of penthouses and vacations homes. Companies give their CEOs private jets, deferred compensation, long-term warrants, convertible securities, do-nothing board seats...you name it.
Congress will have as much success cutting CEO salaries as they had when they Prohibited alcohol in the ‘20s. It will all go underground. That is why Bush is smirking as he agrees to "limits". He knows they are unenforceable.
Instead, let’s focus on something that will actually work...
...raise taxes.
America is faced with a crisis and Americans must come together to overcome this crisis. Now is the time for the Patriot Tax...a 10% surcharge on the top 5% of taxpayers.
Data from the Tax Foundation shows this would raise (roughly, using 2006 numbers) an additional $290 billion/year...enough to absorb the $700 billion hit before the end of Obama's first term.
Conservatives will wail that "tax increases hurt the economy!" But they always say that...and they are always wrong. If they try that lie today, we will call them on it and brutally humiliate them, whether they have Ph.Ds in Economics or not. Our sickness was caused by Conservatives, and the cure must be Progressive.
We will also get to call Bush’s bluff. If this is really a crisis, then how could Patriotic Americans object to doing their fair share?
Some people claim that the bailout will be cheaper than $700 billion because the bonds we buy will eventually be worth something. Fine. When that happy day comes, and the bonds pay off, we will consider rescinding the Patriot Tax.
But, until then, we must call on all Americans, beginning with those who have benefited most from the recent excesses, to do their duty to their country.
There are other ways to frame this. Call it Pay-as-you-go. Call it Fiscal Responsibility. Call it Shared Sacrifice. But we must not ignore that fact that this crisis...if it really is a crisis...was caused by Conservative Philosophy. Therefore, any fix or cure, or bailout must be firmly grounded in Progressive Philosophy.
NOTE: I am still skeptical about the existence of a "crisis". I have seen no numbers showing declines in credit volume, no spikes in interest rates, no valuation numbers of any mortgage bonds, no facts, and no data. Only scary talk from Bush. The only number he mentioned last night was "$700,000,000,000"...and he didn't say how he arrived at that random, magical figure. So let's call his bluff. If he will tax his base to pay for the "crisis" then it must be real. But this boy has cried "wolf!" before.