商业报道:美国CEO薪水封顶

The CEO salary cap

Fortune's Andy Serwer looks at the pros¹ and cons² of Sen. McCaskill's proposal to cap CEO pay at $400,000.

There is a move afoot you may have heard this, to cap the pay of CEOs whose companies receive TARP money. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri has just suggested 400,000 dollars, the same amount of money that the President makes, that's all these CEOs should be taking home. And you know, I guess you can kinda understand this, some of these CEOs have been suggesting that there is TARP money over here in this pot, and then there's other money over here, and that their salaries are coming from this pot, and the money for their airplanes is coming from this pot, not from this pot over here. Well, it really doesn't wash, cause it's all the same pot of money, and of course the perception by the public is that they are getting the government bailout and then they are using it to pay themselves, a ton of money and fly around in airplanes, so, not really good.

Think about another thing, by the way, suppose you were forced to take TARP money, there were instances where various banks and institutions didn't want to get this money and the Treasury³ said, you know you need to take this money anyway. Umm, that, of course, now may limit the CEOs' pay which is something that these CEOs don't like, you may remember Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs. He's capped his pay at 600,000 dollars, even that may be too much, given this new 400,000-dollar limit proposed by Senator McCaskill.

Of course, the President of the United States, gets a whole lot of other goodies besides just that 400,000 dollars, right? He got the White House, Air Force One, security, probably a lot of other perks⁵ too, so maybe not quite a fair comparison, you know, it reminds me of that old line that Babe Ruth said back in 1930, when he was paid 80,000 dollars a year, which was 5,000 dollars more than President Herbert Hoover was making--75,000 dollars a year. And some sports writers asked him and said, "So, how does it feel? How do you justify⁶ making more money than the president did?" And Babe Ruth said, "I had a better year than the president." Not clear at all that the CEOs at any of these institutions can say that, although, compared to which president? President Bush, President Obama? I don't know. It's kind of difficult to say who had a better or worse year, isn't it?

GLOSSARY⁷

1. afoot adjective, [not before noun] being planned; happening: There are plans afoot to increase taxation⁸. ◆ Changes were afoot but we had no idea what they would turn out to be.

2. Cap: an upper limit on an amount of money that can be spent or borrowed by a particular institution or in a particular situation: The government has placed a cap on local council spending.

3. TARP The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)

4. doesn't wash spoken used to say that you do not believe or accept someone's explanation, reason, attitude etc

5. I'm sorry but all his charm just doesn't wash with me.

6. Goldman Sachs 高盛

7. goody 好处

8. perk⁴ noun, verb noun (also formal perquisite) [usually pl.] something you receive as well as your wages for doing a particular job: Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. ◆ (figurative) Not having to get up early is just one of the perks of being retired⁹.

9. old line adj.历史悠久的,保守的

10. Babe Ruth 1895年出生于美国马里兰州巴尔地摩市，后来成为美国棒坛传奇人物，美国职棒当今最伟大的球员之一。

11. Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933).

1 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。

5 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

6 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

7 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。

8 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。