Why Do You Think GOP Complains About Bonuses Even Though It Opposes Caps On Such Comp? Distraction

[Median Democrat]

I noted the articles in this thread which show how most Republicans vehemently opposed any limits on executive compensation in the stimulus legislation while Obama supported such caps on a prospective basis, and the current controversy is on whether bonus contracts should have been retroactively nullified:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5296664

Indeed, after expressing outrage over the payment of bonuses to AIG executives, Senate Republicans are now once again strongly opposing taxes on such bonuses:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_bi_ge/aig_bonuses

/snip

Senate Republicans brake rush to tax AIG bonuses

Senate Republicans are drawing out a flap that has made the Obama administration squirm, applying the brakes to Democratic attempts to quickly tax away most of the bonuses at troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies.
* * *
Republican reluctance also appeals largely to a key constituency that traditionally finds regulation anathema: Wall Street.

/snip

So why are Republicans engaging in such hypocritical positions? The answer is that they are trying to distract from the real need for reform in financial regulations. Obama has pretty much telegraphed that he wants to reform regulations governing the financial sector. However, the folks in the financial sector made millions, if not billions of dollars, operating with little or no regulation. As noted in these articles, the AIG fiasco was caused by a systemic failure to regulate the financial system:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/opinion/19thu1.html?_r=2

/snip

In recent days, the unfolding fiasco of the American International Group and its federal bailout seems to have reinforced the drive for a systemic-risk cop — and the notion that putting one in place is the key to solving all our problems. Speaking of the insurance company’s mess on Wednesday, President Obama said that he had consulted with his economic advisers and with Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, about developing tools to “prevent ourselves from getting in a situation where an A.I.G.” can threaten the entire financial system.

There’s just one problem with all that. The premise is false. The financial crisis, including what went wrong at A.I.G., is not just the result of a missing regulator, a gaping structural gap in the regulatory framework.

Rather, it is rooted in the refusal of regulators, lawmakers and executive-branch officials to heed warnings about risks in the system and to use their powers to head them off. It is the result of antiregulatory bias and deregulatory zeal — ascendant over the last three decades, but especially prevalent in the last 10 years — that eclipsed not only rules and regulations, but the very will to regulate.

/snip

The final question is whether the media will call the Republicans on this blatant hypocrisy in opposing caps on executive compensation while also expressing outrage over such compensation. As things stands, the corporate media has been giving the Republicans a fairly blatant free pass.

[Demeter]

1. they Want to Have All the Cake and Eat It Too

[Median Democrat]

3. Media Never Calls Them On Their Contradictory Outrage

They are outaged that the U.S. would cap pay for executives at bailout institutions, then they get outraged at the compensation for executives at bailout institutions. Heck, today on CNN I heard a conservative radio show host complaining about a tax on "earned" bonuses. WTF?

The media always lets the Republican repeat the talking points, but never forces them to explain the basic contradiction in their attempts to generate outrage.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Because they're looking for anything to get some popularity.