Easy Money

Wow! It's been a long time since I have written anything. I have had a lot of things I wanted to put down on paper (or keyboard) since my last post, but just don't seem to make the time for it. I am feeling the urge to make more time to post...lets see if I can stick to it.

Did you see the compensation package for the recently let go CEO of Washington Mutual Bank? It's very fahsionable right now to rail against corporate greed and unscrupulous executives, but I won't do that here. Bad CEO's are certainly a part, but nowhere near the whole reason for our current financial mess.

I found the WaMu story to be particularly funny and incredible. Like many banks recently, WaMu collapsed and was bo ught by JP Morgan. The CEO and most of the executives were let go quickly after the buyout. Interestingly, the WaMu CEO was actually brought in to turn around the troubled bank, but he never really got the chance... he had been on the job for only 17 days when it collapsed. Seventeen days is hardly enough time for a CEO to accomplish anything. So what did Mr. Fishman get for his 2+ weeks on the job? How about $20 million dollars. That's right...$20 million dollars for less than 3 weeks of work. Where can I get a job like that!! He got a $7.5 million signing bonus, and was entitled to a $11.6 million severance package.

I don't know why, but I find that funny. It's not a case of an evil CEO bilking the shareholders. By all accounts this is a good guy, who was brought in to clean things up. He just happened to sign on the dotted line at exactly the right time. To his credit, he has declined the severance package even though he was entitled to it.

These are some really crazy times we are living in right now.