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Pay Czars And Public Service

by | ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT, HYPOCRISY, TAXES

Have we forgotten about the Pay Czar? Ken Feinburg’s activity during the early part of the Obama administration certainly had some troubling components. Chief among these was the basic fact that this “pay czar”, as he was dubbed, was technically acting independently of any authority in this role. Dana Milbank aptly pointed out that,“he was neither confirmed by Congress nor accountable to President Obama”. And even after he was replaced, no one has still answered the question —  who does the Pay Czar answer to?

Equally disturbing is the fact that the Pay Czar makes unilateral decisions about the compensation of private businesses — something that is certainly not within the realm of the government’s constitutional authority.  Yet Obama’s rationale for delving brazenly into the private sector remains largely undiscussed in any substantive media outlet.

The role of the Pay Czar, according to Obama, is to have the government beat up and chop up the (large) compensation practices of the companies whom the government bails out, under the guise of fairness and necessity. In truth, the companies have almost all paid the bailouts back and it hasn’t cost the government too many millions except, perhaps, with AIG who hasn’t returned all of their funds. Nonetheless, we were told it was essential to have this agent put in place to handle this dire problem.

This begs the question: if the government is so intent on bullying the compensation of those “overpaid” for their services, why then are they not doing the same for the public sector?  Now there’s a real place which could stand more than a mere trimming. Such cuts, in the form of reduced compensation and decreased pension plans, would serve to keep our government and public service unions at least a little less bloated.

Certainly, if the Obama administration were to follow its self-avowed principle to scale back organizations that are overcompensated, they should look no further than the government itself. Considering our staggering deficit situation, as stewards of the taxpayer’s money, the public arena should be — must be — drastically reduced to be in line with the private service sector.