The International Herald Tribune reports that Barack Obama is about to give itself increased oversight of executive pay at banks and Wall Street firms. The new rules, it's said, are likely to tie pay more closely to performance and one would expect shareholders will get more say. Companies might have to put packages to shareholders for a vote.
Whether these changes would go far enough remains to be seen. Maybe there is room for additional measures, like for example, giving shareholders a bigger say on whether a CEO is performing or not, maybe by putting it to the vote of investors.
But is government intervention really the answer? Much of the problem is caused by shareholder greed. Shareholders never complain when they're making money on the market. It's a point I examine in today's Management Line blog.
I put together 3 original songs inspird by Capitalism and Greed and what it has done to us:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B164499DC6808381