On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Robert Cummings <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> I'm not completely sure about the U.S. but banks in Canada are
> regulated... fortunately :)
They are here, too, to a certain extent. The problem is, they can
create their own rules that cost the customer a fortune, and still
somehow complain that they need to have rates cut, raised, or
otherwise modified so that they can make more of a profit.
I have to empathize with them, though. I don't know how I'd
survive if I was someone like former Wachovia CEO Ken Thompson, who
only got a $7 Million bonus in 2004 (in addition to $11.1 Million in
salary, stock, et cetera). And speaking of Wachovia, using them by
example, the audacity isn't even masked:
"Shares of Wachovia dropped as much as 11 percent to their lowest
level since 1991 after the bank said it might lose as much as $2.8
billion in the second quarter. It declined to offer specifics on how
it plans to reduce balance sheet risk or whether it needs more capital
or might again cut the dividend.
"Wachovia said it approached [Robert] Steel for the [position of
CEO], offering him a package that could total $38.1 million in salary,
bonus and other awards in his first year."
I'm no genius (despite what MENSA may say ;-P), but if I was so
horribly worried about how to begin cutting expenses, the first thing
I'd do is STOP RAISING @$#%ING SALARIES. If I even got a cost of
living increase, I'd be happy.... but if I got an exorbitant cost of
living increase in the millions, you wouldn't hear me complain.
And I'm sure many of you remember when Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond
retired in December of 2006. Despite rising gas and oil prices, he
"was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according
to an analysis done for the New York Times by Brian Foley, an
independent compensation consultant. That is $144,573 for each day he
spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the
company's headquarters in Irving, Texas, is known.
"Despite the company's performance, some shareholders, academics,
corporate governance experts and consumer groups were taken aback when
they learned for the first time this week the details of Raymond's
total compensation package, including the more than $400 million he
received in his final year at the company."
That's as far OT as I'm going, but it's worth noting how
regulation doesn't do shit if it's not enforced.
--
</Daniel P. Brown>
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