Monday, May 14, 2012

Clawbacks for Politicians

Pundits and politicians are loudly proclaiming that Wall Streeters whose firms lose money should "give back" earlier compensation.  Why not apply this reasoning to politicians?  Since Jerry Brown misguessed the California deficity by $ 16 billion, why not have him cough up all of his assets (but no more than $ 16 billion).  Similar for Obama and other politicians who proudly announce their fiscal discipline and then quietly let the truth seep its way into public view when no one is watching.

If politicians had to personally make up the shortfall for their promises versus their funding of those promises, maybe they would have second thoughts about their duplicitous behavior.