Salary caps:US legislators think the unthinkable

US legislators have set a powerful example.

Although full details have yet to emerge, the Paulson plan to patch up the US financial system, will, almost certainly,  contain salary caps, for rogue executives.

One early thought, that went into the mix, was that executives, who asked for help under the plan, would find their own salaries capped at $US400,000 a year.

That’s what the US president earns.

Although many of us  might well be satisfied with that, it would be a substantial restraint on those who, till recently, regarded themselves as masters of the universe.

They have had their counterparts here.

The Australian public, like that in the US, is very angry about those executives, who have bailed out with multi-million dollar golden parachutes, after mis-managing their corporate affairs.

Investor anger, perhaps best captured in the placard of a Wall Street protester, who invited rogue CEOs to “jump,” certainly has strong echoes in Australia as well.

That could well manifest itself in public pressure for CEO salary caps here, too.
Political moves, towards this end, have already begun.

Greens Leader, Bob Brown, has already urged the Senate to introduce salary caps for Australian CEOs.
So far, his plan has been passed over, without debate.

But it is still on parliament’s books.