Richard Ferlauto's Page

Proxy Access legislation is moving in the US House of Representatives this week. Concerned ShareOwners should be prepared to contact members of the House Financial Services Committee as soon as possible to support the Waters-Peters amendment , which will go to a roll call vote on Wednesday. The amendment seeks to affirm the SEC's current authority to propose proxy access rules mandating that public companies disclose in their proxy materials the names of all candidates running in director electi… Continue

Citigroup continues to offend taxpayers and shareholders alike. For years shareholders have been demanding more accountability from the Citi board. This is the Too Big To Fail posterchild that only exists because of government largess. Citi's 1999 lobbying effort to dismantle the Glass-Steagall Act was one of the root causes of the banking system's near collapse. Citigroup needs to be broken up before it can do any more harm to its owners (including the government), and it should not be a… Continue

Ken Feinberg understands the limits of what he can accomplish as the pay czar when it comes to mediating pay. He seems to be successfully intervening in the most troubled TARP companies by slashing pay up to 50% and some cash salaries even more. I like the idea that high earning executives should get a relatively small base salary as cash and get paid the rest in "salary stock"-- salary that gets paid out as stock that needs to be help for a long time. Feinberg here is creating a new pay model t… Continue

As you prepare for the Labor Day holiday weekend and might be thinking about what you have earned for your labor over the past year, take a look at this Top Ten List of the mostly highly paid CEOs of 2008 courtesy of a new report by The Corporate Library.

1. Blackstone CEO and Founder Stephen Schwarzman with $702.4 million in total realized compensation. Schwarzman, who under the NYSE-listing standards for limited partnerships is allowed to set his own pay, received just shy of $700 mill… Continue

Today's New York Times editorial focuses on the next big policy and financial crisis-- the inability of 401 k plans to meet the retirement demands of most Americans. The financial crash has shown the fragility of even the most conscientious small investor's planning for retirement. While modernizing and updating 401(k) saving plans has been hailed as the best path to secure retirement, in fact 401(k) plans are fraught with danger if they are a primary tool for retirement savings. The lack transp… Continue