Tuesday, October 14, 2008

One Upshot of Three-Year Executive Comp "Limits"

There is no way - no way - that potential payouts over three years of $240 million (or more) will be given up without every wiggle possible by bank "leaders".

Strategy1: Take a Big Bath. Write-down everything, as much as possible, with the treasury's money. That "guarantees" earnings for the next three years, with any luck.

Note also the political "upside" of having the government own shares. If things "work out", and the shares get some money back for taxpayers, this will be the rationale for allowing CEO pay to go up to the levels that ... well, that they "deserve", of course.

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