Yeah, Let’s Cap Salaries. Start With Harvard!
-By Warner Todd Huston
Since Barack “Giant Killer” Obama thinks it’s his business how much CEOs and captains of business should be paid predicated on receiving federal money one has to wonder why this principle is not being applied fairly across the board? If receipt of federal money is enough to constitute total government control over salaries, let’s apply it everywhere. We can start with the salaries of university presidents.
Back in 2005, Senator Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) wanted to launch an investigation of the president and board of trustees of American University in Washington because of a giant severance package of $1.3 million given outgoing President Benjamin Ladner who only had a base salary of $633,000 in 2003. The severance seemed excessive, to say the least.
In 2005 Bloomberg published a story investigating the salaries of a handful of the nation’s top paid university presidents. The numbers then all exceeded President Obama’s new $500,000 cap for the evil CEOs of 2009.
Here is the list of the highest paid public university presidents that Bloomberg reported in 2005:
- Mary Sue Coleman-Univ. of Michigan: $724,604
- David Roselle-Univ. of Delaware: $720,522
- Mark Yudof -Univ. of Texas System: $693,677
- Carl Patton-Georgia State U.: $688,406
- John Casteen III-Univ. of Virginia: $659,670
The leaders of private universities were even more lavish:
- Donald Ross-Lynn University: $5.04 Mln
- Audrey Doberstein-Wilmington College: 1.37 Mln
- E. Gordon Gee-Vanderbilt Univ.: 1.33 Mln
- John Silbert-Boston Univ.: 1.25 Mln
- John McCardell-Jr. Middlebury College:1.21 Mln
And don’t imagine for a minute that just because the university is supposedly a private one that it takes no federal handouts.
Certainly these sums have grown since 2005 — not to mention that some of those mentioned above may no longer be in those positions. But these numbers can be used as a frame of reference.
So, let’s be fair with Obama’s communist inspired meddling. Each and every one of these university heads should also take a pay cut to that $500,000 level. Why not? They DO receive federal money, don’t they? Don’t we want to be fair to everyone?
Now, I don’t want government telling anyone what they should be allowed to make, to be sure. But, my little exercise shows that Obama’s populist gobbeldegook has nothing at all to do with the right thing, here. It all has to do with giving Obama a soapbox upon which to stand so that he can vent his faux outrage and give the people that warm feeling that daddy is looking out for them. It’s class warfare, plain and simple.
Obama isn’t looking for fair and right. He’s only looking for a photo op and a chance to use hectoring to advance his image among the uninformed and uneducated.
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Posted by Warner Todd Huston on February 5, 2009 11:51 am
» Filed Under Communism, Delusional Dupes and DUmmies, Democrats, Economy, Education, Liberal World, News, bailouts, liberalism
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5 Responses to “Yeah, Let’s Cap Salaries. Start With Harvard!”
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Syndicate Me
You’re forgetting that it is not these University Presidents that toyed with the economy as their plaything. The “right” thing, as you refer to it, is to stop these CEOs and owners of “failing” businesses from continuing their outrageous salaries.
Harvard has nothing to do with the recession. These businesses that are failing and are gaining federal aid for that failure did have something to do with it, and their leaders should be forced to sacrifice and be held accountable for their failure.
Communism sir? You reach too far.
This article is terribly written.
Agreed Jim.
Steve isn’t wrong either. Even if their salaries were more than what they are, they run educational institutions ensuring people are learning in America.
Learning what? How to most effectively bilk the American taxpayer for generations to come?
How many of these administrators were in charge of institutions of “learning” that churned out the manipulators – on all levels going up to the highest levels of government?
Besides, Obama says we “all” need to suck it up and give up something, so shouldn’t that include the administrators at universities? Or does that just mean people like me, who foot the bills?
Angie, don’t pay attention to Moe, Larry and Curly Marx above. They neither read the posting, nor understood the point.