Don't Be Fooled - Bailout Doesn't Stiff CEOs

It sounds to me like normal people are getting pretty sick of hearing about how CEOs are doing really bad work, for really high pay. There was a story about the lavish golden parachutes for Freddie and Fannie CEOs, two companies that are at the root of our current financial crisis. Then there's the story of WaMu, who golden parachuted one guy, only to have to golden parachute another guy 3 weeks later, at a cost of about $20 Million per. Stockholders, meanwhile, get nothing.

But at least now we've been given assurances by our government that CEOs are not going to benefit from the bailout. Nancy Pelosi went so far to declare that "We sent a message to Wall Street - the party is over!" That sure sounds comforting to all of us who think this bailout thing was really just going to benefit Wall St. execs - thank goodness, the party is over.

Actually, for the Billionaire boys club, the party will never end. We've been fed a bunch of rhetoric by politicians. Get used to it. Here's what the bill says:

5. Limit the compensation packages of corporate executives

Any company that participates in the bailout would not be able to pay a salary above $500,000 to its top five executives -- JV: So what, most of them don't anyways. They pay salaries of $500K-$1MM, then throw in lots of sweeteners (sound familiar?)... For example, Jamie Dimon made $1MM salary last year, but had total compensation over $15MM. So, this has no impact

Companies that sell the Treasury more than $300 million of assets would not be allowed to write new “golden parachute” packages for their executives during the duration of the program -- JV: "during the duration of the program..." Yeah, in other words, anyone who writes their golden parachute then sells the taxpayers a bunch of crappy assets is good to go

Companies would have to “claw back” past bonuses issued to executives that were based on misleading financial statements -- JV: Guess what, execs don't really do this anymore cause they are scared of prison. This was added just to sound meaningful... Are you feeling it?

Existing compensation packages contractually agreed to would not be adjusted except for cases of fraud -- JV: BIG WINNER - there will be no adjustments to exsisting contracts. Even the Freddie and Fannie guys will still get paid off. You can throw this pig against the wall, but it won't wear lipstick!

So, yeah, we're getting BS'd with again by politicians. I'm outraged... or bored... Oh well, at least my McDonalds stock is up. War Double-Cheeseburgers!