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Obama freezes bonuses: good or bad idea?

by YankeeJim | August 4, 2010 at 06:22 am

102 views | 4 Recommendations | 2 comments

You might think that sounds like a good idea since Americans are not real satisfied with the administration’s performance. Yet, think about it some more.

“Bonuses” are planned and provided to people who perform above and beyond some base level performance as defined from the outset. With Obama’s appointees being on the job a year at the most, not many are eligible for bonuses yet. Most appointees have hardly put plans and programs together against which to measure performance. Most programs would take a couple of years to produce results.

Now, if you are serious about providing bonuses as incentive for extraordinary performance, why would you remove the incentive?

You see, this is socialistic thinking, the assumption being, we’re all the same and no one is extraordinary, and if they are, let’s cut their legs off.

“Obama orders freeze on bonuses, monetary rewards for federal political appointees

By Scott Wilson

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

President Obama ordered a freeze Tuesday on all bonuses and other monetary awards to federal political appointees, saying: "Like households and businesses across the country, the federal government is tightening its belt."

Obama is under intense political pressure to close the federal budget deficit, and a presidential memo he issued Tuesday night is the latest in a series of personnel decisions designed to help do so.

Upon taking office, he froze the salaries of his senior staff members. And in his budget proposal, he called for a salary freeze for all senior political appointees across the federal government, a step that would require congressional approval.

Obama does not need legislation to enact the freeze he ordered Tuesday, which suspends "cash awards, quality step increases, bonuses, and similar discretionary payments or salary adjustments" to any federal political appointee.

White House officials estimate that 2,900 employees will be affected by the order, which is projected to save the government $1.9 million a year.

"I appreciate the hard work of our Federal workforce, and understand how important these payments can be to many workers and their families," Obama wrote in the memo. "Yet like households and businesses across the country, we need to make tough choices about how to spend our funds."”