by Barbara Stanley

Created on: December 27, 2008

Any company that has failed so miserably as to need a government bailout, does not have responsible executives. If the company does not have the needed funds to pay employees, fund employees retirement accounts, and/or pay for health care plans, how can the company pay its top management millions of dollars in salary plus millions more in bonus pay? Regardless of any contracts signed by CEOs and upper management with the owners or Board of Directors, if the company fails, the CEO did not do the job he was hired to do. No one should be compensated for doing the worst job imaginable.

Even if we assume that there were factors beyond the control of upper management, they should not be allowed to walk away with millions of dollars while the average employee finds himself in the unemployment line with no savings or health benefits. Would a decent, moral man or woman be able to comfortably accept millions of dollars in compensation while knowing that dozens, hundreds, or more are without means to pay their mortgages, utility bills, and buy groceries? I believe we are seeing some of the most cold-hearted, sold-out to Satan CEOs of all time. If the government bails out these companies, the present CEOs should be fired and made to forfeit any bonus promised. No one else would be allowed to walk away from such shoddy work on the job with a bonus. Why should the very same people who lost their jobs and retirements savings be made to pay a bonus to the person or persons responsible? Has America lost its collective mind?

The United States Treasurer should oversee a complete financial audit of every financial institute asking for a bailout. Criminal activities should elicit charges brought against the guilty parties. Incompetence or gross negligence on the part of CEOs should be made public. These people should not be allowed to walk away with rewards for not doing their jobs. The average citizen would not be allowed to say, "Oops!", and then carry on as though a minor mistake had been made. In America, we have become complacent with the wrong-doings of millionaires, while stripping the rights of the middle class and those just barely hanging on. Justice is not justice when the rewards and punishment favor a select few.

Any industry requesting or receiving a government bailout must have a cap on salaries for upper management. No bonus should ever be given if the industry is operating with a deficit; bonuses should be capped bases on the industries yearly profits. All employees should share in any bonus given. Common sense must be used in these difficult times. The fantasy world has collapsed. Let us go forth with the supervision that is so obviously missing from the work of those in charge.

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