Katie Couric's Notebook: Party's Over
Despite signs that the party was long over, there were diehards still dancing on Wall Street - until Ken Feinberg turned off the music.
He's in charge of overseeing executive pay at seven companies that received the most in bailout bucks. Today, he announced that cash salaries will be cut by as much as 90 percent, and total compensation packages by half. As for those free rides on private planes and in limousines, any perks beyond 25 thousand dollars need to be approved by the government.
Americans had a hard time watching firms like Citigroup and AIG pay out huge bonuses...when they were teetering on the brink of collapse.
Critics of the proposed cuts say the big salaries attract the best talent - and that capitalism keeps the government out of private sector pay.
But Wall Street's seven figure svengalis got us into this mess in the first place. And taxpayers kept them afloat. Now isn't the time to pat themselves on the back. A little humility, not hubris, is in order.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
He's in charge of overseeing executive pay at seven companies that received the most in bailout bucks. Today, he announced that cash salaries will be cut by as much as 90 percent, and total compensation packages by half. As for those free rides on private planes and in limousines, any perks beyond 25 thousand dollars need to be approved by the government.
Americans had a hard time watching firms like Citigroup and AIG pay out huge bonuses...when they were teetering on the brink of collapse.
Critics of the proposed cuts say the big salaries attract the best talent - and that capitalism keeps the government out of private sector pay.
But Wall Street's seven figure svengalis got us into this mess in the first place. And taxpayers kept them afloat. Now isn't the time to pat themselves on the back. A little humility, not hubris, is in order.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
