Are you kidding me!?  Capping executive pay at $500k is a joke!   Please explain to me what someone can do to be worth $500k!   How about some real salary caps for these jokers who caused this mess?  Hmm… maybe something more like $200k with the promise of a huge bonus IF they produce results?

It is sad that corporate America has put such a high value on these positions.   Frankly, many of which would not even do their jobs at all if it were not for the support staff keeping them afloat.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe people should be compensated when they produce results.  The compensation should reflect those results and that compensation should be equally distributed to that “team” not just to one individual.  That one individual could not have done their job without the assistance of a lot of other people under them.

Frankly, I believe those financial companies that took bailout money and paid out huge bonuses should not only be ashamed of themselves, they should be forced to return the money and be fired!   In case they weren’t paying attention, here goes; YOUR COMPANY WAS/IS LOSING MONEY, YOU TOOK BAILOUT MONEY, HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THAT WORTH REWARDING WITH A BONUS? 

I believe these high level officials have gotten so used to getting huge sums, they no longer know how to live on a “real” salary.  Most of them reached a point when things in the financial world started to fall apart where they said “oh no, how will we make it?”  This of course justified for them to continue to take bonuses that they no longer truly earned any more.  Many of them had developed such lavish lifestyles that they would have to give up completely without the bonuses to support them.    All I can say is, poor baby, learn to live with less, the rest of us have to!

$500k salary caps?  Give me a break!  How about salary caps which better represent the true value someone brings to the company and not the perceived value.   I strongly believe bonuses have their place, when the company is doing well and wants to share the wealth with those that made it successful.  Rewarding people for just being there and holding a high position in the company or being a ”name” of importance in the industry is just so wrong!

Lower the salary caps to about half of what they are, watch those executives work their collective asses off to truly ”earn” their bonuses in order to support a realistic lifestyle and not one which is based around the excess they have grown accustomed to. 

 Oh, and just in case someone says “the owner should be paid whatever they want to be paid” or something along those lines.  I am not referring to business owners.  Business owners (not shareholders) should pay themselves what they think they are worth.  They merely have to remember that they still have a business to run and keep running.  You drain it too much, there is nothing left to help your continuity.  I know many successful business owners who do not live lavish lifestyles and only take a salary for what they truly need to comfortably support their families.

Popularity: 45% [?]

I consider myself to be a responsible home owner and borrower.  I obtained a mortagage at a decent rate and put a decent amount down on my home.    I did what many others did and responsibly borrowed money to buy my home and hoped to earn equity in it over time.

Now with the subprime mortgage mess having blown up by people going bankrupt and walking away from their homes, property values have gone into the toilet!  Many of us that were responsible in borrowing money to buy a home are screwed by being stuck in homes we cannot sell and are no longer worth what we currently owe on them!     In our neighborhood, homes that once sold for over $240k now are lucky to get even $130k and that’s if they can get sold at all.  This leaves many of us, who were responsible, upside down in our homes and stuck.

The government seeks to assist those who were not responsible and bail out those banks that made the bad loans in the first place but I say “What about us!?”  What about those of us who didn’t make bad choices earlier on and now owe more on our homes that they are able to sell for.   The government has instituted the ability for bankruptcy judges to have a mortage renegotiated to its current value and a mortage that the previous subprime home owner can now handle.  What about those of us home owners who do not want to go through bankruptcy to get our mortgages lowered?   Why do we have to hit rock bottom before we can get our fair shake in all of this?

My take on this?  The government is already bailing out banks and borrowers for these bad mortgages. From all intensive purposes, the bailout does not appear to be extending this to the rest of the tax payers who DID NOT screw up and make bad choices, who are VICTIMS of the banks and subprime borrowers irresponsibility.  As a taxpayer, affected by this gross irresponsibility, we should be able to expect the same capabilities to do at least one of the following:

First option, if you need to sell your home, be able to do so at the current market value and have the bank receive a bailout for their loss in the sale.  The borrower would walk away with no equity but will also not owe anything on the home afterward either.  I do not see how this is any different than a judge lowering the mortage value and forcing the mortgage company to remake the loan based on the new amount.

Second, if you wish to stay in your home, mortgage companies should have the ability to work with you to refinance the home at it’s current market value and get their difference from the bailout.  Again, I do not see this as being any different from a judge ordering a bank to make a new mortgage to keep someone in their home.  The difference here is, it gives us, the home owners the ability to be proactive and not allow our credit histories to become trashed.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I strongly believe our government is forgetting about the portion of the population that still pays taxes and tries to live a responsible life.  To ignore their needs, which were created by the irresponsible banks and borrowers, is a crime in my book and it should not go unrecognized or unpunished.

Popularity: 44% [?]