I had dinner last night with a friend who describes himself as a “businessman Republican.” He doesn’t cotton to the right –wing moral issues. He voted for McCain. Yet, he effusive praise of Obama and thought he was “pragmatic.” I wasn’t up for an argument, so I changed the subject. It’s not hard to see why business people are happy.
While the White House’s new so-called special master for compensation, prominent Washington lawyer Kenneth R. Feinberg, has been given unprecedented powers to set pay at seven of the most troubled firms, the plan that was laid out Wednesday largely maintains the status quo for compensation practices at all other publicly traded companies, including hundreds that are receiving taxpayer assistance. In addition, the administration got rid of a previously announced $500,000 salary cap at financial firms that in the future take the kind of exceptional assistance that firms such as Citigroup and Bank of America have received.