Don't Pay Them Now and We Won't Get Paid Later

The Obama Administration seems to think it can reduce executive pay at these bailed-out banks without any consequences.

First, there is this absurd assumption that people will just stay in their existing jobs after having had their salaries slashed by 90%. This isn't like they are part of some family business and have loyalties that are above pay. They also have a lifestyle that is predicated on those high salary levels. These people are paid those big salaries because they are the educated cream of the business world. That's how they got to where they are; and, that is why they got paid what they did. They are valuable business commodities and I don't think they can't just move on to another corporation; and, not necessarily in the banking community. And, don't think they would be just restricted to the U.S. job market.

Secondly, saving a few million on salaries in comparison to the billions that were given out in bailout money is just dumb math. It will literally take decades to return the billions owed to the taxpayers if Obama thinks that slashing salaries is the mechanism to do that.

Thirdly, if enough of the brains behind the banking industry leave these companies, these banks will flounder. Logic says that if you want the bailout money repaid and repaid quickly, you want the best and brightest to help to achieve that goal. By forcing key employees to go elsewhere, the banks will be left with people who have limited experience and little knowledge of the business. That is a formula for failure. I guess Obama seems to think that a multi-billion dollar bank with complex domestic and international transactions can be run with the equivalent of mail room staff. Today's banking is not simply managing loans, and checking and savings accounts!

Personally, I don't think we'll ever get our money back from these banks. They will probably remain in debt to the taxpayers until they go out of business. But, then, maybe that is the real intention of these pay cuts.