$500,000 is maximum wage Obama sets for firms taking taxpayer bailout

Last week,Obama branded Wall Street bankers “shameful” for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail them out.

“This is America,we don’t disparage wealth,” the president said. “We don’t begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we certainly believe that success should be rewarded.”

But Americans definitely begrudge “executives being rewarded for failure,” especially if their earning are subsidized by taxpayers,“many of whom are having a tough time themselves,” he said.

The $500,000 salary cap will be stricter for those companies getting “exceptional assistance” from the Treasury Department: the American International Group,Bank of America,Citigroup,Chrysler and General Motors.

“Exceptional assistance” companies wanting to pay executives more than $500,000 would have to do so by using stock that could not be sold or liquidated until the government money was paid back. (The New York Times)