The Washington Post had a very good article on the front page of the business section telling readers that the restrictions on CEO pay in the bailout package will have little impact. The article quotes Graef Crystal, the country's leading expert on CEO pay, describing the treatment of CEO pay in the bill as being, "like somebody aiming a gun through the window; they've got in their sights a CEO, and then they decide to shift over a little bit and drill a shareholder instead. The CEO just keeps walking and doesn't even know he might have gotten hurt." It would have been interesting to ask why Congress would include restrictions on CEO pay that all the experts agree are essentially toothless. It is also interesting to ask why the Post only saw fit to write about these restrictions after the bill passed.
--Dean Baker