I have no objection in principle at all about these cuts in pay. This is not intrusion into free enterprise. These enterprises are not private or free. They are wards of the state. They ran themselves into the ground, and they are now partially or largely owned by the government.

 

So the government has every right to intervene and dictate salaries.

 

But the question is a practical one. Is it smart if you're a shareholder in the company, as we all are, and thinking of its future and the ability to repay the loan, is it smart to institute a cut this drastic?

 

The obvious danger is that if the cut is too large, it will induce the people who run it and who presumably know how to run it to go elsewhere.

 

So, to me, it is a practical decision, and the fact that Obama was hands-off on this and he left it in the hands of someone who's an expert in this area I think is the right decision. Obama is not an executive. He is not a businessman. He ought to leave it to Feinberg, who in these negotiations has become expert, so I think it was handled the right way.