Europe Cuts Executive Pay Packages, If They Can Understand It So Should We

In case you haven't seen it, the New York Times wrote a ridiculous article this past Thursday about how hard it is soooo hard to live on half a million dollars in Manhattan. They concluded that with all the "necessary" expenses, a salary of $1.6 million is far more agreeable. If you get the urge to knock them the %$#& out, don't worry, you aren't alone. As much as the majority of the wealthy in America bitch and moan about Obama's decision to cap salaries of bailed out institutions, our friends on the other side of the pond clearly get it that we are in a big mess and that everyone needs to get together to help solve this crisis, even if the rich have to take a pay cut.

From (ironically) The NY Times:

“There’s no opposition to giving bonuses or high pay to people who are successful,” said Mr. Bolkestein, now a professor at the universities of Delft and Leiden in the Netherlands. “But there should be no extra money for people who have failed.”

And, in some cases, no jobs. Royal Bank of Scotland Group fired seven nonexecutive directors Friday as part of a restructuring agreement with the British government, which pumped in about $30 billion to rescue the bank.

On Friday, European governments were encouraged to follow the example of the United States by limiting executive pay at companies receiving government aid.

“The commission very much welcomes this kind of limit placed on the pay and bonuses of executives,” a European Commission spokesman, Jonathan Todd, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Such restrictions could be an extra incentive for banks to repay state bailouts.

Restrictions on financial institutions vary, from a ban on all bonuses to capping severance pay packages. It is smart and sensible for the behavior of executives to be held in check. As the article notes, many countries in Europe and the banks themselves are becoming more responsible with their money and what they are paying their employees in light of their bad business practices in recent years. I am sure there a few that protest over there as they do here, but in Europe overall, there is more seriousness in actually getting these banks to act responsibly in light of what is happening to the world economy.

Environmental Bushshit

George W. Bush has to be one of the worst Presidents and current world leader when it comes to being a steward of the environment. From the very beginning of his term he failed to sign the Kyoto Protocol, then went on to allow the oil industry and other polluters free range to take huge profits at the expense of our planet. Recently he scoffed at a European plan to tackle climate change, opting to have his own plan to deal with the problem. Of course in typical Bush style, what he advocates for is utter crap that does nothing to help save our environment.

From Yahoo News:

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -

President George W. Bush's plan to tackle climate change merely restates U.S. policy which has been ineffective in the past in cutting emissions blamed for global warming, the EU's environment chief said on Friday.

"The declaration by President Bush basically restates the U.S. classic line on climate change -- no mandatory reductions, no carbon trading and vaguely expressed objectives," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, according to his spokeswoman.

"The U.S. approach has proven to be ineffective in reducing emissions," Dimas added of Bush's call on Thursday for 15 major countries to agree by 2008 on a long-term goal for cutting emissions.

The European has been onto Bush's empty promises for quite a while now and it was easy to pick apart this latest attempt to look good on the international stage. The reality is that Europe is cutting their emissions while the United States increases at alarming rates.

We are well aware of our problem in the White House as well. Along with some die-hard deniers like Senator Inhofe, these Republicans will continue to deny the effects of climate change and man's contribution to it so long as the money keeps coming in from oil lobbyist and similar ilk.