Edited on Fri Nov-21-08 11:48 AM by Phoebe Loosinhouse
I think they might have really done it this time and killed the golden goose of American gullibility and credulity.
2 big crashes in the span of 10 years is just too much - crashes are supposed to be a once in a generation type thing in order to create the type of amnesia necessary to restore confidence in the markets.
How many Americans will switch their 401Ks over to the cash option in the near future? How many will decide that even the vaunted "match" isn't enough to keep them in the casino?
Specifically, what type of regulation is needed? I would :
**spend time on defining fiduciary responsibilities of boards and directors to limit executive compensation to some kind of rational metric along with complete and transparent disclosure of all accessory perks and bennies and costs thereof. I would require employee representation on the board.
** forbid the creation of secondary shell companies that are created in order to hide executive pensions and golden parachutes and protect them at a higher level than is given to rank and file employees. This happens more than you think.
** acknowledge that a social contract does exist and that American companies should make every effort to keep jobs in America or at the very least maintain American jobs to some percentage of those outsourced to third world sweatshops. I would remove any tax incentives that may exist that might reinforce the opposite behavior.
**Make uninvolved third party credit default swaps illegal.
**Do like REITS do and FORCE the payout of profits to be dispensed yearly TO THE SHAREHOLDERS in the form of dividends if not used for R&D or capital improvements or expansion or a cash on hand fund.
** Completely overhaul defined pensions, their funding and protections. Employees currently get screwed every time because the execs don't really care about bankruptcy and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp is no guarantee.
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