Obama To Cap Comp At Half A Mill

At 11 a.m. today President Obama and team will announce that the salaries of senior executives at firms accepting government bailout cash under its TARP plan will be capped at $500,000. According to Bloomberg, the terms of the restrictions will only "focus on companies that, going forward, take 'exceptional' amounts of bailout money" and won't be retroactive to firms that have already been rescued by Uncle Sam.

Although chiefs such as J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon (who spoke against the limits yesterday) are certainly not celebrating, and there's a good chance that if "senior executive" means "dealmaker" there will be a decent amount of defecting to non-TARP firms (as was written about here previously), these banks and their senior bankers should not forget the rule that many of us Americans were taught years ago during the glory days of our ignorance and innocence. To quote mothers and fathers nationwide, "As long as you live under my roof, you live by my rules."

It's tough to argue with that logic, no matter how hard you try; the only way to beat it is to pay your own way. So once these banks are prepared to do just that, they should, at the very least, accept without complaint the lot they got.