First, he plans on neutering the “Buy American” portion of the stimulus bill the House already passed.
Caveat: He didn’t have much choice. Not only does it violate WTO regulations, the European Union threatening a trade war. And, given that the U.S. economy is smaller than the combined Euroworld economy, that’s a trade war we can’t win.
Second, he is proposing a serious cap on executive pay for companies getting TARP bailout funds.
Caveat, though: As with TARP itself, this legally cannot affect bonuses already part of executive contracts, unless the company in question can do a cram-down renegotation on the CEO in question.
Third, as I requested in a blog post yesterday, he’s eating a little crow over the failed Tom Daschle nomination.
“I screwed up. I’ve got to own up to my mistake. Ultimately, its important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”
Caveat on this, though – no apology was made over the already-approved Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Also, not a caveat but a musing – how much of the American public’s trust has he lost over the Daschle, Killefer and Geithner nominations?
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