Haiku 032309

loud drumming
on the shingled roof --
first rainstorm

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Recently, we read the following:

International Herald Tribune: "Administration seeks increase in oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms"

"The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other [financial] companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said. The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama’s first foreign summit meeting in early April….

"Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system…. The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort….

"One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company…. The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission…"

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And we thought:

.... Spring cleaning at U.S. financial institutions? The danger for Obama's administration is that it doesn't go far enough in fixing the broken regulatory system and ensuring that the interests of all stakeholders are equally served. It should take advantage of the momentum that public opinion has generated over the last several months. The proposed changes need to be as wide-ranging as possible in terms of the institutions and practices they will cover. And as free of legal and tax loopholes as possible -- no more "ways-out" ....