Carl Icahn calls for a corporate governance stimulus

Carl Icahn has been making the round doing everything short of stripping naked on CNBC to get his message across: Corporate governance in America is a complete joke and a major contributor to the mess we're in now. Shareholders and lawmakers need to get on the ball and do something about it.

In an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal, Icahn writes that government bailouts have essentially plowed hundreds of billions of dollars into poorly-managed companies that still have same poor governance structures and lazy and incompetent managements and directors.

What can Congress and President Obama do? Icahn writes that "First, Congress needs to pass legislation giving shareholders enhanced rights to elect new boards, submit resolutions for stockholder votes, and have far more input on executive compensation and other issues. As companion to these reforms, Congress needs to pass legislation that prevents managers from making it more difficult for shareholders to exercise their ownership rights."

Icahn has been complaining about corporate governance in America for literally decades. He was lionized as an opportunist and corporate raider but the events of the past few months are proving that he was on to something.

Here's an idea: President Obama should create a cabinet level position of corporate governance that can work with all branches of government to improve shareholder right and management accountability. And the first Secretary of Corporate Governance should be none other than Mr. Icahn.