Enough already. Drastic action is needed to achieve some
justice.
Joel S. Hirschhorn -- World News Trust
Jan. 30, 2009 -- By now most Americans have
experienced extreme disgust upon hearing about the nearly $20 billion in bonuses
given to people in New York City’s financial sector at the end of
2008.
After sending the nation into
the current economic black hole there is no way of comprehending the audacity of
financial company executives in giving themselves and their colleagues shameful
rewards for abysmal and disgraceful performance. Other than screaming and moaning about
all this dishonorable behavior what should the Obama administration and Congress
do?
Here is the solution that the
overwhelming majority of Americans should demand: A law should be immediately
passed that imposes a new special federal income tax of 99 percent on all income
in excess of $500,000 annually for single taxpayers and $1 million for couples,
starting for 2008 income.
Call it a
greed tax. Call it justice. Call it getting even for too many years
of uncontrolled greed that has given the nation nothing but economic injustice
and inequality, and given capitalism a very bad name. Call it a sensible way to raise federal
revenues to help offset the cancerous national debt.
Considering that nearly all of
the people who received the 2008 bonuses also received high salaries and even
larger bonuses in previous years, and the many billions of dollars of federal
dollars going into bailouts of companies, there should be no qualms about such a
greed tax. For example, in the two
previous years a total of about $70 billion in bonuses were received by these
greedy financial sector elites.
Even outside the financial
sector, executives also received obscene bonuses in 2008 despite terrible
performance. The compensation
research firm Equilar, for example, reports that the average performance-based
bonuses for top executives, other than the chief executive, at 132 companies
with revenues of more than $1 billion increased by 14 percent, to an average of
$265,594, in the 2008 fiscal year, in addition to high salaries.
As just one of countless examples
of greed, consider that the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Mark Hurd, received $42.5
million in 2008 pay. He had
received over $20 million in signing inducements in 2005. During his tenure some 40,000 jobs have
been eliminated at H-P. And
consider this nice little perk: In 2008 the company also paid out about $181,000
for his business meals.
And then there is the case of
Robert Rubin at Citigroup. During his nine years there the company lost more than $65
billion. What did Rubin earn? He pocketed $126 million. What did he say when he left? “I bet there's not a single year where I
couldn't have gone somewhere else and made more.”
Enough already. Drastic action is needed to achieve some
justice. With all the attention on
the Obama stimulus plan based on spending money the nation does not really have
or can afford, it is appropriate to use this proposal to raise more
revenues. Tax greed!
[Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn
through delusionaldemocracy.com]