CEOs face compensation caps

Word has it the Obama administration will mandate a $500,000 cap and a ban on bonuses for top execs at firms receiving taxpayer bailout funds. Shock abounds in the boardrooms.

“That is pretty draconian — $500,000 is not a lot of money, particularly if there is no bonus,” said James F. Reda, founder and managing director of James F. Reda & Associates, a compensation consulting firm. . . . Mr. Reda said only a handful of big companies pay chief executives and other senior executives $500,000 or less in total compensation. He said such limits will make it hard for the companies to recruit and keep executives, most of whom could earn more money at other firms.

Right. I'm sure there's a great clamor for execs who demand millions in compensation for running their corporations into insolvency. I think we can take that chance. Maybe it will even help restore some reasonable parameters to executive compensation.

And I love the irony. These are the same guys who fight organized labor in order to suppress workers wages in the name of good business practices. Too bad if it doesn't look so good when givebacks are applied to them.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]