Obama has delighted in bash- ing filthy capitalist pig CEOs for taking huge salaries and bonuses. He loves to lambaste “fat cats” on Wall Street, even appointing a pay czar to make sure that companies that took TARP funds didn’t pay their executives “excessive” bonuses.
But regarding the industries he has socialized, he is nothing short of lavish toward executives. Take GM, now rightly nicknamed “Government Motors,” since it is co- owned by the federal government and the UAW. GM has sucked up massive amounts of taxpayer dollars, but that fact hasn’t stopped the management from getting big pay- checks. For example, the CEO, Ed Whitacre, is receiving a salary of $1.7 million, with stock bonuses that will bring the total payout to $9 million.
And he isn’t the only one. GM is rehiring former CEO Fritz Henderson as a “consultant.” He will work 20 hours a month for a tidy $59 thousand a month. Not that he needs much help — when he replaced CEO Rick Waggoner (who was fired by Obama), Henderson was paid $5.5 million in total compensation for the year.
GM’s new CFO, Chris Liddell, is going to get $750,000 a year in salary, and stock bonuses that will likely be worth $5.45 million. Board member and “special adviser” Stephen Girsky is going to get $1.1 million yearly in salary and stock.
All these compensation packages are okay with Populist Obama and his pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. No, no populist rhetoric and pay caps for socialized companies!
