Bush ‘astounded’ by the salaries given to his base

October 24, 2006

This seems entirely out of character for the president.

President Bush said yesterday he’s “astounded” by some of the astronomical salaries that corporate CEOs collect and thinks companies should rethink the practice.

“I don’t think government should control salaries, but I would hope shareholders would take a close look at some of these compensation packages that they pay these corporate executives who are able to make money when the company is not doing well sometimes,” Bush told CNBC’s “money honey” Maria Bartiromo.

“I get astounded by the size of the pay packages,” said Bush, who is paid $400,000 a year.

I suppose it’s mildly reassuring that the president is “astounded” by executive compensation. After all, American wages aren’t keeping up with, well, anything, but the median salary and bonus for chief executives in office at least two years soared 14.5% in 2004 to over $2.4 million.

Given this, it’s considerate of the president to express at least mild concern about the development, but it’d be even more encouraging if his entire economic plan for the last six years wasn’t premised on giving these same wealthy CEOs more tax cuts.

Let’s not forget, just a few years ago, Bush spoke in New York at the Alfred E. Smith memorial dinner. Looking out at the diamond-studded $800-a-plate crowd, he noted the wealth on display. “This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have-mores,” Bush joked. “Some people call you the elites; I call you my base.”

If only he weren’t kidding.

I think it’s more, “No one should be paid more than the king of the free wuld, heh heh heh.”

  • In interpreting what Bush really means, you need to learn Bush speak…when he says that he’s astounded (his latest wordpower accomplishment), he means that he’s pissed off that he did not hit them up for much bigger contributions. He’s also wondering why he as the self-described “most powerful man in the world” is not paid equally as well, so he doesn’t have to work so hard to pilfer money via Carlyle and other schemes.

    What he does NOT MEAN is that he gives a rat’s ass about the middle class or the poor (many of which he has helped to newly mint). They are evidence to him, Kissinger and Rockefeller and their ilk, that natural selection must be helped along. Never mind that if any one of these three ever had to hold a real job, they would quickly be fired for a lack of productivity.

    My suggestion: Let’s get everybody in this country to send 25 cents to a central fund that we can use to produce THE BEST REALITY SHOW OF ALL TIME: “GOLD SPOON SURVIVOR.” On GSS, the members of the Pilgrim Club including all the Rockefellers would be taken to an island just like the show, “Survivor,” they would have to feed themselves, shelter themselves etc. with their own wits. Those who won would be permitted to get 1 percent of the drilling rights in Anwar. I am betting that they would all kill each other within three days.

  • WTF??? Is he serious? Is he still sober? What is next “I am shocked that US Soldiers are being killed in Iraq”? “I am amazed that so many different hot things can burn you!” “I never realized all these groups were all about god.’ The man is insane!

  • When he leaves office (which can’t be too soon), he’ll probably ask his rich buddies to arrange a CEO job for him, so he can run a company into the ground while collecting a huge salary to do so.

  • Well Bush wouldn’t want pay tied to performance. He doesn’t earn his money now and he never has. Overpaid executives, incompetent politicians, all our “leaders'” are guiding the economy with steering wheels that aren’t connected to anything.

    (speaking of which, during the time it took me write this message the US spent another 400,000 dollars in Iraq. For what?)

  • This one is particularly hypocritical, even for BabyDoc Putsch, because he just got a 100% increase in salary from the previous president (who was paid ($200K/year).

    Talk about rewarding a CEO for incompetance!

  • Wow so close to election Bush is talking about corporate responsibility. He should be one to talk. Mr. George “I’ve failed at everything and if wasn’t for my daddy’s friends I’d be in the poorhouse” Bush. Next he’s going to say he didn’t know baseball salaries were so high.

  • I can tell that Bush has on those compassion colored glasses that he can only stand to wear a few weeks at a time— every election season.

  • Yet more evidence, were any needed, that whatever you can say about the ethical failings of his advisors and deputies, Bush himself is nothing more than your average village idiot.

  • Love Madame Karnak’s idea.

    Does he mean “astounded” the salaries are so high, or astounded they are so low?

    Those poor sonsabitches, how can they live on 2 bil a year?

    Another question: Does he know what even know astounded means? Ass.

  • Y’see, I thought my tax cuts would help make you guys really really really really really really really really rich. I never realized it would make you really really really really really really really really REALLY rich!

  • the median salary and bonus for chief executives in office at least two years soared 14.5% in 2004 to over $2.4 million.

    Not that I’m at all sympathetic to CEOs that earn this much, but I do get irritated at the numbers that are given like this, without context. Last time I looked, these CEOs are those that run the top 250 or so companies in the U.S. It’s not as if there’s a class of CEOs that’s earning way too much money; there’s a relatively tiny group of them that’s earning way too much money. There’s certainly a wage gap, but I think a clearer picture would come out if we were talking about more than a handful of people at the top end.

  • These sorts of comments are how he defuses his base paying attention to the issue.

    Many republicans are a bit pissed off about CEO excesses too, so when they see Bush say this, they relax.

    Oh, ok, he agrees, so nothing to worry about, and Bush escapes any political hit.

    It’s like in the 2000 campaign when the polls showed the country wanted a compassionate leader: ‘compassionate conservative’.

  • “these corporate executives who are able to make money when the company is not doing well sometimes”

    The irony burns like battery acid thrown on the face. As if Bush deserves getting paid for what he’s doing to our country.

    I think George is more astounded by the fact that with all the money these CEOs make, he and his party only get a tiny slice of that in return for all the favors they do for them.

  • remember how astounded daddy bush was when he saw a grocery store price scanner during the ’92 campaign? typical bush: WAY out of touch with reality.

  • I think what he meant to say was:

    “There’s an election in a couple a weeks.”

    I mean, c’mon. Who really believes Bush thinks pander is just a black and white animal he visits at the zoo?

  • I think George is more astounded by the fact that with all the money these CEOs make, he and his party only get a tiny slice of that in return for all the favors they do for them.
    Comment by petorado

    Yeah ever notice the disparity between the bribes and the benefits? It’s like 2 cents on the dollar or less. I guess if it’s not yours to sell, you always sell at a profit. Win win for them. Lose lose for us.

  • RSA has a point above. The number of actual people in the category of wildly overpaid corporate executives is finite and small. The discussion needs to be steered back toward the inequities of the tax structure and light needs to be shown on the many routes corporate America finds to get out of its obligation to support the system that permits its existence.

  • re: RSA and lonbud
    Call me naive, but anything over a million or two a year (base salary) is WAYYYY too much money. They all get bonuses and perks above and
    beyond that. When you consider how many CEO’s, CPO’s, CFO’s, Pres, and VP’s there are making multi-million dollar salaries, it’s really insane.

  • I think Craig (#14) gets it in one.

    Bush is diverting The Base from the fact that he is the friend of so many rich men who are going to have a heck of a time getting through the eye of that needle.

  • In Bush’s world, the acceptable sources of obscene wealth are inheritance, investments (preferably ones that are somehow managed or underwritten in such a way as to be risk-free, such as Bush’s Harken stock sales and his Arbusto dealings), megadeals such as IPOs, and fleecing the public (e.g., Arlington stadium, Hastert’s land deal). Earned income, even at the rarefied CEO compensation levels, is somehow a little shady.

  • The CEO of what was once a local company (moved headquarters to Chicago) of about 1200 employees is calling for employee givebacks of $15/hr (eliminate pensions and healthcare for retirees etc). His total compensation for 2005 was $3.6 million which works out to $3000 per employee just to pay his compensation. Add in the total compensation of a few more upper management executives and the cost per employee could easily double. These people have no shame, just rampant greed.

  • “Economists know the price of everything, yet the value of nothing.”- ?

    And yet, with news like this, I am called naive and idealistic when I call for the end of the Corporation.

  • I think George is more astounded by the fact that with all the money these CEOs make, he and his party only get a tiny slice of that in return for all the favors they do for them.

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