奥巴马总统说，接受联邦救助资金的大公司高级主管不应该挣超过每年50万美元。在奥巴马发布这一命令之前，最近有报导说，去年在经济下滑、公司纷纷寻求联邦政府大规模帮助之际，这些华尔街公司却发放了大约180亿美元的奖金。
奥巴马说，50万美元只相当于一些公司主管一直所得工资的微小部分。他说，向需要政府援助才能支撑下去的企业主管支付高薪只能激怒纳税人，因为那是在奖励失败者。
新规定还限制了给离职主管的一揽子补偿金的数目。这个限制在依赖救助的公司偿还债款之前将一直有效。
U.S. President Barack Obama says top executives of companies that get “extraordinary” help from the government should not make more than a-half million dollars a year. His order follows recent reports that Wall Street firms paid 18 billion dollars in bonuses last year, while the economy fell into recession and companies sought massive financial help from the government.
Mr. Obama said 500-thousand dollars is “a fraction” of what some executives have been paid. But he said paying huge salaries to leaders of companies that need government aid to survive just angers taxpayers, because it is “rewarding failure.”
The new rules also limit the size of severance packages (compensation to managers leaving the company). The restrictions will continue until the companies that get aid repay the taxpayers.