British Business Secretary Vince Cable calls for stiff bonus regulations.

From the BBC –

Mr Cable said disclosure was vital.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the potential scale of 2010 bank bonuses remained “of considerable concern to the government”.

He added: “I’ve launched a consultation in my own department on corporate governance that takes in issues of remuneration and disclosure, and it may well be that that’s a better way of tackling it.

“I wouldn’t just cover banks, but highly paid executives in general. But we have to have a system whereby executive pay is available to shareholders so they can make proper decisions from it.”

Isn’t this something we should be talking about? Currently, business bonuses are at all time highs while the middle class barely hang on. Why don’t we talk about austerity for someone who isn’t a homeowner or a worker?

All over the United States, salaries have been stagnant for decades or even reduced. Some fields have diminished in size or virtually ceased to exist. Why should business bonuses be immune for the same kinds of cuts?

From further down in the article –

Mr Cable said he was “not persuaded” that banks realised they needed to limit bonuses, saying excessive remuneration in the sector remained a “major irritant”.

He added that if the banks gave out substantial bonuses at a time when the wider population faces the impact of austerity measures, it would be a “major provocation”, and that the government had the power of raising taxation to deal with the matter.

We’re not even having a discussion about this. Why is it always the middle class that gets hit? Why do they talk about Social Security and Medicare when there is so much money among so few who accomplish so little? How is it that Americans who paid into Social Security their entire working lives can be referred to as the “Greediest” generation as if they were two bit thieves?

James Pilant