More Burke Nanny-Statism

And again, the people hurt most? Chicagoans:

• Under the proposal, annual total compensation for executive officers, including bonuses, would be capped at $400,000. That salary isn't unusual for Chicago's top bankers and mere pocket change for top honchos at Wall Street investment banks, where the head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. took home $54 million last year.
• The legislation would limit the number of financial institutions that could underwrite city bond deals at a time when investment banks, such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., have gone out of business or exited the public-finance arena. Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. and others that remain would not be able to comply with the proposal as written. It is unclear whether these Wall Street banks will participate in the federal bailout.

These investment banks are publicly owned entities for the most part. Their main responsibility is to the shareholders. The shareholders are responsible for setting the contracts and compensations to their executives. The aldercreatures in Chicago have nothing to do with it.

In fact, one has to wonder that the aldercreatures recently voted themselves 6% pay raises while operating in a $400-plus-million deficit mode. CEO's of banks don't usually reward themselves out of shareholder's pockets - they are paid based on share value, performance goals and meeting standards.

If the City can't make bond deals with established banks, who knows what the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for?