CEO PATRIOT PLEDGE: As an executive my primary motivation is to act for the good of my

Bob Rosner
On The Money
Contributor

These are M.A.D. economic times. That’s M.A.D. as in Mutually Assured Destruction, the old Cold War strategy where no one would be left standing after that first nuke was launched. Economic experts, who agree on little else, agree on this: if our current vicious cycle of “layoffs-driving-down-purchasing-which-increases-layoffs” continues, no one will be left standing.

There is an exit strategy here that no one is talking about; billions of dollars that could be used to address the layoff cycle immediately. This is not a plea for legislation or government funds. In fact, not a penny would come from taxpayers. It’s simple, voluntary, and dare I say, patriotic. The “Chief Executive Officer Patriot Pledge,” see above, is a 95-word call to action for all corporate leaders, not just those in financial services, to rein in their own wretched excesses and voluntarily re-invest part of their lofty salaries and perks to keep employees on the payroll.

Entitlement and greed are the only words I can find to describe $18 billion in bonuses given during the last two months of 2008. At the same time that one million people were being laid off, including at these very firms that were giving bonuses to a select few. Who paid the bill that allowed these corporations to party like it was 1999? U.S. taxpayers, courtesy of former Treasury Secretary Paulson’s inability to ask for any accountability from the corporations receiving $350 billion in TARP funds. Who knew the “free market” could be so expensive? Heckuva job, Paulie!

I’m sure some will scream “socialism,” but socialism isn’t voluntary. No, the CEO Patriot Pledge is pure capitalism, rewarding people when they do well and refusing to grossly enrich failure any longer. I’m not disparaging wealth or begrudging anybody for achieving success, just asking for bonuses that are tied to real achievement.

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