John At The Center

Despite the dramatic headlines, there is far less to the executive pay cuts at seven companies secured by the “special master” Kenneth Feinberg than meets the eye. This is a ploy to appease a public enraged by Wall Street bonuses, particularly Goldman’s which is notably unaffected by the move.

It does absolutely nothing to deal with the real problem: that the large financial firms, which nearly drove the economy off the cliff, have been rewarded by an entrenched system of socialized losses and privatized gains.

Recall Mr. Feinberg’s hollow mandate. Larry Summers said, “There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.”

via The Fallout From Big Pay Cuts – Room for Debate Blog – NYTimes.com.