There are few things less likely than boards of directors of banks and large corporations cutting their top execs’ salaries without some sort of government compulsion (actual or threatened). The “independent” directors are, for the most part, execs at other companies who don’t want their own salaries cut. Executive compensation is set on the advice of consultants who estimate a “fair market” rate of compensation based on what executives in comparable positions at comparable firms are paid. Nor would I count on board members who are retired politicians, government officials and the like to bite the hands that fed them by putting them on the board (quite a healthy paycheck for showing up at a one or two expense-paid meetings a year – Gerald Ford built himself a fortune after he left the White House just by sitting on boards).

Jack Lew, as much as I despise him, is not a criminal just because he had a gig at Citibank. Apparently, he made no financial decisions of any consequence; he was just a “manager,” and, from what I’ve read, was not paid much compared with what actual senior traders make. Jon Corzine is a different story, of course.

If the likes of Jack Lew and Jon Corzine were Republicans, they’d be in prison and be household names. But whining about the injustice of the jackals and vipers in the MSM won’t fix the problem.

Last I checked, Plato divided the democratic regime into three parts: 1) drones (populist spendthrifts and demagogues who flatter the desires of the demos – with socialism?); 2) “oligarchs” (orderly natures skilled at money-making – aka “the drones’ pasture”); and 3) the multitude.

To me, our “oligarchs” look an awful lot like “men whose property is taken away are
compelled to defend themselves by speaking before the people and by doing whatever they can.”

If so, America rests somewhere between democracy and tyranny; not oligarchy and democracy.

On the bright side, I am sure that this administration is doing wonders for corporate “diversity” consultants, as well as lawyers and accountants who help corporations deal with ACA and Dodd-Frank.

“What do Republicans do when it turns out that Obama’s “socialism” is a kind of government that the rich and sophisticated and especially the really rich and sophisticated can believe in”
Um, how about get out of the way and let the “crony capitalism” argument of the Tea Party be the party message? Also, hopefully find party leaders who aren’t a) massively wealthy, b) only marginally articulate, c) hopelessly co-opted by crony capitalist/socialistic causes…