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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

If the deficit goes up, can we take the last five years of Sen. Bob Corker’s salary?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  April 26th, 2010 at 09:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

We haven’t gotten to killing CEO’s just yet, but members of the United States Senate are falling all over themselves in a race to see who can be most abusive to America’s CEO’s. It is probably only a matter of time.

It’s also a sadly predictable game.

Everyone hates Senators so Senators must go after those they perceive as even less popular than themselves. The scions of industry who really can’t fight back lest they get an SEC investigation or a summons to appear before Henry Waxman generally take the abuse.

The latest attack is arguably unconstitutional. A member of the United States Senate wants to take back from CEO’s 5 years of their salary if their business requires financial intervention.

The first question should be this one: why would a company ever require financial intervention? They should not.

The second question should be this one: what about the takings clause in the Bill of Rights?

This is, after all, the CEO’s property. It has been paid to him. If his company does not perform, why are we taking his property? And if we do, why the heck would anyone ever want to be a CEO?

It has come to this. A member of the United States Senate showing absolute and utter contempt for the private property of an American citizen — intent on punishing that person, singling him out, if a corporation requires intervention that should never be needed in the first place.

The most pathetic thing about this is that the Senator pushing to take the private property of an American citizen who performs badly on the job is Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee.

Closing Question: If the deficit goes up requiring further intervention from China, can we take the last five years of Bob Corker’s salary?

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COMMENTS

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  • zollistar

    Also grating: legislators’ self-important preening

  • bonkey

    I know because Obama said so in his State of the Union speech.

    We are truly living in bizarro world when we can go from democrats running on the evils of high deficits when we had a 200 bln deficit, to 1 year after the dems election, the deficit is so high, even people are already talking about how it’s too big to ever repay. All while they continue to claim that they aren’t increasing the deficit. Like a bully saying “stop hitting yourself”

  • earlgrey

    Blackburn maybe? He is up in 2012

  • RedBeard

    Unpredictable, quite maverick-like (yuck), and with no real sense of basic political right and wrong. Probably shares a locker at the Senate gym with Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

    This latest crap from Corker is what we get when we fail to elect people with bedrock philosophical underpinnings.

  • jaybo

    Sunday I listened to Sen. Mitch McConnell state that he still supports Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida. And this is the current minority leader in The Senate!

    So I am Not surprised to see the direction that republican senators are taking today. All of this talk about limiting the size of government while they work on and pass bills expanding the size of the federal government. This kind of hypocrisy can no longer be ignored by conservatives.

  • mustango

    “why would a company ever require financial intervention?”

    Because Barack Obama says they do. Do you think he’d leave a decision like that up to a capitalist?

  • smitch61

    But oh man is this good… give it a look

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg&feature=player_embedded#!

  • jaybo

    This litmus test can be short and I really only have one item that I feel should be there.

    Republicans will absolutely refuse to vote for any bill that increases the size of the federal government beyond its current size.

    That would mean that any legitimate increase in a program would have to be offset by a decrease in another program. We are fast approaching a bureaucracy that will have enough power to control the results of election in this country. You can see examples of this in countries like Brazil. The size of Brazil’s bureaucracy allows it to control the politicians that are elected to office.

  • tngal

    Yes he comes from our great Volunteer state, but this is an embarassment. I agree no company should seek the federal government to bail them out. If they have mis-managed funds to the point they’re going under then let them go. Another company or two , albeit smaller ones, will sprout up to fill the void if the market is there.

    Certain job classifications always generate more than others. Some would argue too much. Sports figures, actors, CEO’s are but a few but its up to the various industries themselves to decide what the market will bear.

    Setting punitive damages on a high grossing figurehead is overreaching. Please just let them fail.

  • tenndon

    I just got off the phone with Corker’s Nashville office and told them this is terrible and that I’s vote against him next time.

    Sad part is he’s not up for re-election this year — BUMMER.

    This is the last straw with this RINO.

    I agree with earlgrey — Blackburn in 2012!

  • ithos

    Jim Grant in the Washington Post has the best solution. In the good ol’ days, executives personal assets were subject to bankruptcy proceedings. It isn’t socialism to subject their wealth to the same fate of the deposits that they have been entrusted with. Of course the politicians should keep their fat noses out of the process but insulating the officers financially from the folks who have lost everything is unfair and anti-capitalist. I can’t imagine our Founding Fathers would have tolerated these obscene practices in their day.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042204208.html

  • rightwingmom52

    I wanted my campaign contribution back.

  • Common_Cents

    Should the CEO’s get a bonus?

    Our govt is beyond ridiculous.

    During the Goldman Sachs interrogation yesterday one of the govt morons asked got on the evil bonuses of Goldman Sachs while America burned. What about clawbacks for our elected elite for ruining America? I say their pensions should be up for grabs too.

    Is it just me or does Susan Collins always sound drunk? If it is a condition or impairment I apologize. She proved herself to be a moron too.