Bill Would End Bonuses for Bailed-Out Bankers

Executives of banks and insurance companies bailed-out of failure by U.S. taxpayers could kiss their multi-million dollar annual bonuses goodbye under a bill to be introduced in the next Congress by independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In a letter mailed October 29 (.pdf), Sanders told his fellow Senators that his bill would limit the total annual compensation for the executives of the bailed-out companies to no more than the salary paid to the President of the United States -- $400,000.

"To force struggling Americans to pay for bonuses to millionaire Wall Street bankers who are responsible for the worst financial crises since the Great Depression would be an outrage and must not be allowed to happen," Sanders wrote.

Referring to a Time magazine article, in which some on Wall Street had called Uncle Sam their "Sugar Daddy," Sanders added, "If companies want to pay more than what the president makes, the companies should have to give back the money they received from taxpayers so it can be used, among other purposes, to help struggling homeowners stay in their homes."

On the same day Sen. Sanders announced his bill, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Harry A. Waxman asked all nine U.S. banks to be gifted with $125 billion in taxpayer money to disclose how much taxpayer money will end up in the pockets of their top executives as compensation and bonuses.

Also See:
Waxman Demands Banks Disclose Bonuses
Could the Mortgage Crisis and Bailout Have Been Prevented? (US Economy)
Federal Intervention in the Banking Panic (US Economy)