Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on capping CEO pay: "I thought, is this still America?"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Depends on how many taxpayer dollars you've just given that company, Jimmy.

GOP Opposes Pay Limits On Bailed-Out Bankers

February 6, 2009 07:36 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/gop-opposes-pay-limits-on_n_164544.html

President Obama has proposed capping compensation for executives at banks that take taxpayer bailout money at $500,000. Republicans hate the idea -- a position puts them uncomfortably on the side of people currently about as popular as child-porn producers and subprime mortgage brokers.

Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl (R-AZ) blamed the "tone deaf" bankers for creating the political environment that allows Obama to call for a cap.

"Because of their excesses, very bad things begin to happen, like the United States government telling a company what it can pay its employees. That's not a good thing in America," Kyl told the Huffington Post.

"What executives have done is troubling, but it's equally troubling to have government telling shareholders how much they can pay the executives," said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL).

Sen. James Ihofe (R-OK) said that he is "one of the chief defenders of Obama on the Republican side" for the president's efforts to reach across the aisle. But, said Inhofe, "as I was listening to him make those statements I thought, is this still America? Do we really tell people how to run a business, and who to pay and how much to pay?"

[bdamomma]

1. .......................

I hate these republicans they do not give a shit about the American people.

[TwilightGardener]

2. WE'RE the shareholders, asshole, when they take taxpayer bailout money.

We have a right not to see it get flushed down the toilet for yachts and jets.

[sasquatch]

3. My God, these people are dumber than snot

[cherish44]

4. Hey Ivanhoe

[jimshoes]

5. It's easy jimmy,

Just don't take any of the people's money, and you don't have to answer to anyone but your stockholders.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. !

:thumbsup:

[ipfilter]

6. Inhoffe would probably argue that the world was still flat.

He ran campaign ads last year claiming he was "One stubborn man"...as if that was a good thing.

[theoldman]

7. Did you really have to post that idiot's photo?

I was ready to eat breakfast and now have lost my appetite

[Dappleganger]

8. How many of these repukes are shills for their bankers?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Why, we certainly do, Senator. Don't you recall your GOP fellow Senators, Corker and Shelby

telling the UAW that their workers should not be paid more than non-union auto workers?

[Lost4words]

10. no its not still America the GOP drove it off a cliff

you stinking sob!

[Old Codger]

12. It Is Called

Reasonable regulation..... nothing more and hopefully nothing less.

[bdamomma]

13. oh I just wish President Obama would just walk into the Senate

and tell them all off. :argh:

[aquamarina]

14. What an idiot

[Johonny]

27. pretty much sums it up

You could make fun of him but first you'd have to understand what his point was. Is this still America? What one economic crisis later and the guy doubts the country he lives in?

[stray cat]

15. Let them keep their pay but tax any income over a million by 65%

no write offs

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. Yep. Just like we did during WWII.

And what did companies do when wages were frozen? They began offering benefits to their employees like health care and paid vacations.

[skeewee08]

17. I live in Oklahoma and I must say this man in no defender of Obama!

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. Hey, they don't HAVE to accept the government's restrictions.

Of course, the government does not HAVE to bail them out, either.

When you are on the verge of bankruptcy and you get financial counseling, the counselor tells you to cut up all your credit cards.

If you cut them up the counselor will then re-structure your payments to levels within your means.

If you do not cut them up, the counselor will show you to the door.

If these guys can't accept the restriction, kick em to the fucking curb and let them sink.

[nykym]

19. These assholes

know nothing, if not for the minimum wage standard (Govt telling employers what to pay) we would be paid whatever these titans of industry wanted to pay us. I'll bet it would not be near the standard. Maybe the venerable Sen. James Ihofe and Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl would like to bring back indentured servitude or better yet why not resurrect slavery for the masses. Geeeez don't they follow that old Confucius saying to engage your brain before you engage your mouth.

[Frustratedlady]

20. If you don't want restrictions, don't ask for help. Simple as that.

No different than a kid that gets the car keys. It's our car, our insurance, our child's safety...you be home at 11:00, no speeding, no drinking, no other kids in the car, except those given permission to do so.

That's just life for those who are still learning.

[GoCubsGo]

21. Another one grabbing onto that rope...

...hauling it in like mad, thinking there's a pony on the other end of it, instead of a noose. Here, have some more rope, Jimmy!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

22. Oh please please please make "We shouldn't cap CEOs pay!" the centerpiece of GOP strategy.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

25. My suggestion is to revisit the Iron Eyes Cody marketing strategy

I would take a picture of Thain...



...and I would Photoshop in a single tear rolling down his cheek, I.E.C.-style:



...and I'd have Inhoffe do a voice-over saying something like "The DEMOCRATS did this..."

I'll bet it would really rally the base.

:rofl:

[Sebastian Doyle]

30. Doesn't BONER already do that all the time?

I swear that lunatic is always crying. :cry:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

31. Yep, Boner's The Little Cloud That Cried.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON4KBqk3kak



:rofl:

:toast:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

39. ROFLOL!

[Marr]

41. Absolutely-- I'd *love* to see them fight on this one.

I'd love to see them filibuster something like this. Democrats should think up a way to maneuver them into having such an opportunity.

[Ikonoklast]

23. If I lend you money to fix your roof because it's leaking,

and after you get it you want to spend it on hookers and blow, you should expect that I will set the terms of how you spend MY money.

Or YOU AIN'T GETTING ANY MORE.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

26. An old episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" addressed that...

...Ray's brother Robert was behind on his bills. Ray lent him money. Robert went to Vegas. Ray had a fit. Robert said "But it made me happy! You want me to be happy, don't you?" Ray said something like "No, I want you to pay your bills. That's why I lent you the money."

Amazing how the people on the receiving end of the bailout could learn these little life lessons from a few humble sitcoms.

:rofl:

[havocmom]

24. When they take public money for private companies it is NOT Capitalism

and they give up any pretense that it is. In America, you take responsibility for your business failures, all recent history aside.

In the America the rest of us live in, no one who lost so much money would be employed and most who cost companies that kinda coin would be prosecuted, or at least sued.

Inhofe and Kyl are the biggest, dumbest patsies on the Hill.

[LynneSin]

28. You know, if you are doing a shitty job you don't get pay raises or bonuses

Why should these CEOs be the exception. Clearly they have done a shitty job running their companies - they shouldn't receive all the perks that comes with being a successful CEO.

[Sebastian Doyle]

29. No, Inhofe, you miserable piece of shit. It's not America.

Hasn't been America for about 28 years now. But hopefully it WILL be again.

[Bill McBlueState]

32. "Is this still America?"

Barely, but we're trying to recover.

[zbdent]

33. um ... when a person on welfare has to be subject to all kinds of regulations

if she decides to use food stamps, and if she "misuses them", she can be thrown into jail ... but a corporation which receives millions of dollars should not be subject to any regulation ... period?

[spanone]

34. if they're on the dole jimmy, then that's the rules

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

35. You know

I've looked and looked and looked and can't find anything in the Constitution about money :shrug:
We live in a Republic. We have a capitalist economy. You'd think the first would rule the second. Sadly, it's been twisted around and in reality the economy rules the Republic.
From this we get the constant pounding of the idea that we are free to earn as much money as we can in America. Great idea. Try doing that without screwing someone, somewhere, somehow. Can't be done.
And this idea that even thinking of putting a cap on it is somehow heresy. $500,000 a year certainly seems reasonable to me..........

[WI_DEM]

36. Your pay will be next Imhoffe!! haha

[Still Sensible]

37. We have to tell them how to run their business MORON

because they've run theirs, and our economy, into a ditch.

What an idiot Inhofe is. I'm embarrassed that he is one of my senators. Coupled with Dr. Dickhead Coburn, we have the perfect asshole quinella in Oklahoma.

[Z_I_Peevey]

38. On the one hand, I'm glad our little elfin, lipless Senator

is doing so much to shed light on Republican/corporate GREED and thus hasten the demise of his failure of a party, but...

on the other hand, I just wish he's sit down and shut up sometimes. Between him and Coburn, sometimes I just want to go into the deep woods and hide until we get some actual humans in our Congressional delegation.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

40. He's OUTRAGED ABOUT THE OUTRAGE! It's OUTRAGEOUS I tells ya!

[fishwax]

42. lol--they have no problems with pushing renegotiation of union contracts

as a stipulation of the automobile bailout. They clearly have no problem with government interference in compensation, in general--just when it threatens those at the top. :eyes:

[WindRiverMan]

43. Yeah, I mean if you cannot fuck the middle class to pay the rich...

it just does not feel much like America anymore. Good observation Senator. Keep up the good work!

[specimenfred1984]

44. That whore looks like and sounds like a soulless robot

which is why the (R) is next to his name.