Earl Blumenauer: “I appreciate the efforts on behalf of the Financial Services Committee and Chairman Frank to start demystifying the…”

“I appreciate the efforts on behalf of the Financial Services Committee and Chairman Frank to start demystifying the process. There is a lot of talk about supporting of shareholder rights and what not. But the fact is that we don't have a uniform system in this country that actually guarantees people the right to exercise corporate democracy in ways that most people would take for granted. In terms of the most important stakeholders, the people who own these corporations, they are too often treated like children that need to be kept at bay. You don't have to read very many business pages in the New York Times, just for the last year, to discover areas of systematic abuse in terms of what anybody would expect to be the treatment of shareholders. And, unfortunately, that is aided and abetted by government policy. I see this as one simple step to allow shareholders just an advisory vote on compensation. I thought it was a pretty good idea. I thought it was being part of a larger conversation. I think it is a warning shot about corporate behavior and to State regulators to take seriously the rights of the people who own these companies.”