Sunday, December 21, 2008
The AP studies executive compensation at bailout banks
And what they find is appalling and across the board.
The AP study does fail to examine one point of interest. Every compensation committee swears on a stack of bibles that these huge payouts are necessary to attract and keep their execs. The AP study fails to tell us where these guys would go if they had to work for what they are really worth.
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.Lord knows these poor folk could not exist without all the bonuses and perks lavished on them and it would be cruel beyond belief to make them pay for anything. Still, I think Barney Frank has hit on a crucial point.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.Well yes Rep Frank, everybody knows that CEO's would be a lazy shiftless bunch if they didn't get enough compensation to support their self esteem. And besides, it's not like they are a bunch of overpaid autoworkers.
"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"
The AP study does fail to examine one point of interest. Every compensation committee swears on a stack of bibles that these huge payouts are necessary to attract and keep their execs. The AP study fails to tell us where these guys would go if they had to work for what they are really worth.
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