Senator Claire McCaskill

In the footsteps of President Obama’s harsh words about "shameful" Wall Street bonuses yesterday, Senator Claire McCaskill (D, MO) introduced legislation today to cap compensation for executives at Wall Street firms receiving Federal assistance. According to CNN.com:

An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday to cap compensation for employees of any company that accepts federal bailout money. Under the terms of a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, no employee would be allowed to make more than the president of the United States.

Obama’s current annual salary is $400,000.

"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer," an enraged McCaskill said on the floor of the Senate. "They don’t get it. These people are idiots. You can’t use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses."

McCaskill’s proposal seems to make perfect sense. Why should executives continue to take home outrageously large salaries, bonuses and stock options while their companies cause trillions of dollars of other peoples’ money to disappear?

Never worry, though. We have an idiot rushing to the defense of the Wall Street idiots. In the same CNN.com article, here is Rudy Giuliani:

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday defended corporate bonuses, saying that cutting them also means slashing jobs in the Big Apple.

"If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create unemployment," he said on CNN’s "American Morning." "It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores, so everything has an impact."

Geez, Rudy, what’s in that stogie? [Photo from shadowpress.org]

Okay, let’s see. How much of a Wall Street executive’s compensation in excess of $400,000 is going into the New York City economy, especially in restaurants and department stores? Yeah, I don’t think it’s very much, either. Think off-shore accounts and exotic vacations–zero impact in New York.