Getting Wall Street Pay Reform Right

There's mounting talk on Capitol Hill that a Wall Street bailout will include some limits on executive compensation, as well as contradictory reports about whether a deal on controlling executive pay has already been reached.

Four days ago, such a move seemed very unlikely. But the pushback from Congress -- from both Democrats and Republicans -- has been surprisingly robust, thanks in considerable part to a surge of outrage from the public.

Will restrictions on CEO pay just be a symbolic retribution, as some have charged?

The answer is, it depends.

America's Elephant In The Room

The second most astonishing thing about American politics is that John McCain and Sarah Palin have a respectable chance of winning the White House in 2008.  (Or, for that matter, that any Republican could have a shot at any office for which the Democratic candidate hasn't suddenly died on the stump.) 

The Pyramids Crumble

There was a time when Americans made things.

People from Central Jersey still can view the massive slogan afixed to the Trenton bridge crossing the Delaware River on Business Route 1: "Trenton Makes The World Takes."

Installed during the 1930s, the sign could be said to have been the motto of every small to midsize city in the country for much of the last century - not only New Jersey cities like New Brunswick and Phillipsburg, but urban manufacturing centers like Youngstown, Ohio, Gary, Ind., and Flint, Mich.

How Wall Street Can Bail Itself Out Without Destroying The Dollar

For Grover "Drown Government In The Bathtub" Norquist, this bailout deal will work out very well. At a proposed cost of $4,780 per taxpayer, it'll further the David Stockman strategy of so indebting us that the next president won't have the luxury of even thinking of new social spending (expanding health care, social security, education, infrastructure, etc.); taxes will even have to be raised just to pay for the bailout.