Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 14th, 2013

Is the new campaign in Switzerland (of all places!)to restrict excessive executive compensation to limit and even punish publicly traded companies that reward executives with huge wages and bonuses regardless of performance an additional attack on the rich, or is it a smart way to minimize wasteful spending in companies where short-term thinking is often a curse?

100,000 Swiss citizens have already signed a petition to limit “fat-cat” pay and voters will decide at a March 3 referendum whether top executives should have their compensation set by shareholders. While a poll shows a majority may vote yes, the industry’s lobby group warns that it will drive out tax-paying companies and is campaigning for a softer counter proposal. It is certainly an eye-opener that a campaign of this sort should be taking place in Switzerland, a country not known for limiting excess. Built into this campaign is a tide of anti-Americanism that suggests that the unhealthy compensation practices of bloated sign-in bonuses and bonuses unrelated to performance are an American invention.

If the very wealthy shareholders are the ones most disgusted with some of these practices, it is tough to argue that this is a war on the rich. Maybe its a war on a select few rich people who have prospered through abuse and mediocrity?