Limiting CEO Pay

Some conservatives, as well as corporate business leaders, are criticizing President Barack Obama's call for limiting the pay of CEO's of companies accepting bailout money, but I have a different take.

Generally, I am opposed to the government telling private companies what they can pay their employees, executive or otherwise. But, just as any teenager should know, you don't always get your say if someone else is paying the bills. By going to Washington hat in hand, these businesses have in effect become wards of the state. As such, the state gets to make the rules.

We have started down a bad path, and one hopes that there will ultimately be a course reversal. In the meantime, businesses that want to rely on government bailout money will have to learn the other golden rule -- the one that has the gold, makes the rules.