A Silly, Silly Idea

Carol Platt Liebau | February 05, 2009 10:03 AM

ABC News looks at some of the (tax-free) perks enjoyed by a sitting President in the context of a discussion about limiting CEO pay and perks.

Of course, it's silly to argue that a President shouldn't have the kind of security and transportation set ups that President Obama enjoys.

But it's also silly to argue that the government should be setting pay limits for CEO's of companies who are accepting the government bailouts -- especially when it's a prospective measure that wouldn't impact the livelihoods of those who actually got the companies into trouble.

While the government is setting salary caps -- a socialist move if ever there was one -- why not do it for all those who substantially benefit from government largesse? How about university presidents? How 'bout government workers -- as hirees of the American taxpayer, none should earn more than the average income of $50,000?

If someone argued for a cap on teachers' salaries, the (quite sensible and correct) argument would be: We don't want to discourage the best minds from going into teaching. Well, the same goes for serving as the CEO of a large business.