Are you glad you took the money now?

24 Oct, 2009 by TrogloPundit

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In “Goodfellas,” the mob movie that won Joe Pesci an Oscar, the restaurant owner found out what it means to take the money.

Not money, exactly — he took protection. He asked the mob boss to become a silent partner, in order to protect him from other mobsters — like Joe Pesci — who were treating him like dirt.

It worked, but it didn’t. He didn’t get bullied in his own place anymore. The mobsters paid their tabs. But the mob boss used the place as a front for black marketeering. Ran it into the ground. Then, when it was all used up, he had it burned down for the insurance money.

The mob got a foot in the door. That was all they needed.

Away from the movies, now. Back to the real world:

NEW YORK — The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest-paid executives by about half on average, according to people familiar with the long-awaited decision.

The cuts will affect 25 of the most highly paid executives at each of five major financial companies and two automakers, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.

Side note: can we know who the sources are now that they’ve made the plan public?

The administration will also curtail many corporate perks, including the use of corporate jets for personal travel, chauffeured drivers and country club fee reimbursement, people familiar with the matter have said. Individual perks worth more than $25,000 have received particular scrutiny.

In making the ruling, the administration’s “pay czar,” Kenneth R. Feinberg, will be inserting the government as never before into pay decisions traditionally made in corporate boardrooms. His decree, which is expected to be announced by the Treasury Department on Thursday, will culminate a months-long review prompted by public outrage over outsize paydays at failing companies saved with taxpayer money.

The banks and other companies took the money for a good reason: to protect them (and, they claimed, the economy) from the financial crisis. They let the government — a government led by hard-left wannabe socialists — get a foot in the door.

That’s all they need.

(The TrogloPundit, a.k.a. The TrogFather, blogs here)