Capping Executive Salaries

Capping executive salaries at $500,000. Talk about change, eh? I must say I'm surprised to see Obama take this strong step, as I would have thought he'd be sensitive to the picture of a black liberal Democrat making such a Marxy move in his first weeks in office, but I guess you don't win high office by being shy.

Of course, this only pertains to those firms that take federal bailout money, but it's still quite a change from the Bush people, who liked ladling out the billions and letting the executives use it for their billions in bonues and perks, even as their firms crumbled and Americans lost jobs and homes.

The Times has an interesting backgrounder suggesting that this isn't so radical, at least in terms of the level of exec salaries, as we may be seeing another turn in the cycle in which the compensation of bankers comes back in line with those of doctors and lawyers, which sounds more equitable. There also seems to be a correlation between skyrocketing compensation and the run-up to financial disaster, as the other time when pay soared into the stratosphere was during the lead-in to the Great Depression - hubris before the fall.

However, by all accounts, we are still a long way from the light at the end of the tunnel, and it remains to be seen how all will play out, and it's bound to get uglier before sanity is fully restored. Let's just hope that sanity is still an option.

( Article )

Capping Executive Salaries

Capping executive salaries at $500,000. Talk about change, eh? I must say I'm surprised to see Obama take this strong step, as I would have thought he'd be sensitive to the picture of a black liberal Democrat making such a Marxy move in his first weeks in office, but I guess you don't win high office by being shy.

Of course, this only pertains to those firms that take federal bailout money, but it's still quite a change from the Bush people, who liked ladling out the billions and letting the executives use it for their billions in bonues and perks, even as their firms crumbled and Americans lost jobs and homes.

The Times has an interesting backgrounder suggesting that this isn't so radical, at least in terms of the level of exec salaries, as we may be seeing another turn in the cycle in which the compensation of bankers comes back in line with those of doctors and lawyers, which sounds more equitable. There also seems to be a correlation between skyrocketing compensation and the run-up to financial disaster, as the other time when pay soared into the stratosphere was during the lead-in to the Great Depression - hubris before the fall.

However, by all accounts, we are still a long way from the light at the end of the tunnel, and it remains to be seen how all will play out, and it's bound to get uglier before sanity is fully restored. Let's just hope that sanity is still an option.

( Article )

Something We Can All Believe In

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all...

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule - the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

-- President Barack H. Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast

This may not be particularly original, but after Dubya's unapologetic creationist-fundamentalism, it is good to hear the President of the United States take a broad and positive view on faith and humanity.

Something We Can All Believe In

There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all...

We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule - the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

-- President Barack H. Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast

This may not be particularly original, but after Dubya's unapologetic creationist-fundamentalism, it is good to hear the President of the United States take a broad and positive view on faith and humanity.