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A comment on Carly Fiorina: Government shouldn't decide executive pay.

Re:Carly Fiorina: Government shouldn't decide executive pay by _b8r0 on Thursday February 05, 2009 @07:40PM (#469084)
It's a tough one. On the one hand it's easy to get bitter about these bonuses. On the other hand the banks will lose people who (despite the mistakes they've made) are the most experienced in their fields when it comes to handling the banks and won't be able to attract staff of any quality without the bonuses as it's a systemic issue.

On the other hand as other smart people on this site have pointed out, where the government has lended or invested it should have a say in the decision.

Personally I'd be happy to let them have their bonuses providing their balls were strapped to a device that checks the stock price every 30 seconds and administers electric shocks when the share price drops below a certain level. If they manage to make it through the year without singed balls or resigning from the pain, I think they might deserve the bonus.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Carly Fiorina: Government shouldn't decide executive pay by dablya on Thursday February 05, 2009 @07:59PM (#469102)
Where are these talented people going to go? If there are still banks around that are able to pay them what they want (without taking bailout money), why is there a need for the bailouts at all?
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Re:Carly Fiorina: Government shouldn't decide executive pay by homme on Thursday February 05, 2009 @08:03PM (#469114)
Who is this talent? Name them. What have they done/are doing that their leaving any of these companies will cause a greater apocalypse? What crucial functions do they serve that make them irreplaceable?
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Re:Carly Fiorina: Government shouldn't decide executive pay by _b8r0 on Friday February 06, 2009 @04:27AM (#469569)
Lets say you have a hospital. The guys that run the hospital pay themselves large bonuses, because all hospitals pay large bonuses at the board. The board screws up (as in people start dying), and you tell them that they won't get any more bonuses. Soon members of the board leave and find other jobs, because all other hospitals pay such bonuses at this level. Then you find that you can't get people from other hospitals to replace them, because you don't get bonuses.

This is a crappy analogy to what we're looking at. It's not just the bankers at the top getting the bonuses, it's the traders, the front and back office, legal, every bit of the business that brings in money (or not as the case may be). It's a systemic problem requiring a systemic solution.

[ Parent | on HN ]