Restitutor Orbis

The New York Times is reporting this morning that the Obama administration "is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan." This plan would also prohibit executives from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, "except for normal stock dividends."

And why is the Obama administration taking this step? Because it's listening to the American people, who are outraged by the huge bonuses these modern-day French aristocrats are paying themselves on top of their already obscene salaries.

Under the Treasury’s $700 billion rescue program, most companies that have received money so far have been considered “healthy” rather than on the brink of collapse.

But five of the biggest companies to get help — Citigroup, Bank of America and the American International Group, General Motors and Chrysler — were all facing acute problems. And top executives at those companies made far more than $500,000 in recent years.

Kenneth D. Lewis, the chief executive of Bank of America, took home more than $20 million in 2007. Of that, $5.75 million was in salary and bonuses.

Vikram Pandit, who became chief executive of Citigroup in December of 2007 and previously held other senior positions at the bank, made $3.1 million.

Richard Wagoner, the chief executive of General Motors, made $14.4 million, much of it in stock, options and other non-cash benefits. He earned a $1.6 million salary.

Maureen Dowd lists a few other mind-blogglings acts by the completely immoral and clueless:

Until it came to light Tuesday, Wells Fargo, which received $25 billion in federal funds, was blithely planning a series of “employee recognition outings” to Las Vegas luxury hotels this month.

As ABC reported, Bank of America took its $45 billion in bailout funds and sponsored a five-day carnival outside the Super Bowl stadium, and Morgan Stanley took its $10 billion in bailout money and held a three-day conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach. (Morgan Stanley had also still planned to send top employees to Monte Carlo and the Bahamas, events just canceled.)

The New York Post revealed that Sandy Weill, former chief executive of Citigroup, took a company jet to fly his family for a Christmas holiday to a $12,000-a-night luxury resort in San José del Cabo, Mexico. No matter that the company just got a $50 billion federal bailout and laid off 53,000 worldwide.

The interior of the 18-seat jet, as described by The Post, is posh, with a full bar, fine-wine selection, $13,000 carpets, Baccarat crystal glasses, Cristofle sterling silver flatware and — my personal favorite — pillows made from Hermès scarves.

As of now, the plan has been put into place, as the AP reports:

Obama announced the dramatic new government intervention into corporate America at the White House, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side. The president said the executive-pay limits are a first step, to be followed by the unveiling next week of a sweeping new framework for spending what remains of the $700 billion financial industry bailout that Congress created last year.

Obama clearly understands how the American people perceive the actions of these CEOs, who enrich themselves while their companies fail and while the American people pay to keep them afloat:

"This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success," Obama said. "But what gets people upset - and rightfully so - are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers."

On top of this, Obama said that massive severance packages for executives who leave failing firms are also going to be eliminated. "We're taking the air out of golden parachutes," he said.

Of course, the CEOs are not happy. They've lived high off the hog for a long time and have been a law unto themselves, far above such petty concerns as ethics and morality. Honestly, 500K is pretty generous. I'd like to see steeper cuts in their privileged lifestyle. But it's a start, and it was the right thing to do.

Finally, there is this tidbit of news: TARP recipients paid $114M to lobby lawmakers.

Bank of America, combined with Merrill Lynch, spent $14.5 million and got $45 billion from the bailout. General Motors spent $15 million and got $10.4 billion, and American International Group spent $10.6 million and was paid out $40 billion.

Of all companies that have been helped by TARP, 25 paid lobbyists $76.7 million to represent them on Capitol Hill last year. According to the Washington Business Journal: