The so called Stimulus package has even greater restrictions on executive pay than the Treasury had imposed. This is a misguided populist capitulation that feeds political class envy.

At a time when the banks need the best talent to pull themselves out of the worst depression the industry has seen in a generation the president has seen fit to hamstring them with compensation restrictions that will most likely benefits the overseas competition.

And while President Obama argues against the frivolous junkets to Las Vegas, who loses the most?-not the poor bank executives and employees who would consider this a minor imposition, but the union workers in Las Vegas whose drop off in business has hurt them severely. How ironic that Obama’s ill chosen words hurt one of his most significant constituent groups, the unions in the Democratic Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid’s home state.

George H Bush played this class warfare chip when his tax increase focused on luxury goods like boats and yachts, only to find out that the biggest losers were the middle and lower class workers who worked in the industry, who were laid off when the demand plummeted.

Class warfare does not work; you can not build up one group just by tearing down another.

print