So far it looks like shareholders, employees and, of course, taxpayers are the big losers in the unprecedented Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout just announced over the weekend.
But some people are going to come out of this mess just fine, The New York Times says. And guess who that might be?
Departing chief executives Daniel Mudd at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Richard Syron could leave with lucrative pay packages totaling milions of dollars. All this despite the fact that the companies they headed failed so spectacularly the government had to step in.
From The Times:
Under the terms of his employment contract, Daniel H. Mudd, the departing head of Fannie Mae, stands to collect $9.3 million in severance pay, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, provided his dismissal is deemed to be “without cause,” according to an analysis by the consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates. Mr. Mudd has already taken home $12.4 million in cash compensation and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2004, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
Richard F. Syron, the departing chief executive of Freddie Mac, could receive an exit package of at least $14.1 million, largely because of a clause added to his employment contract in mid-July as his company’s troubles deepened. He has taken home $17.1 million in pay and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2003.
It’s nice to know that Syron, in the midst of a meltdown of his company that threatened the stability of the housing market and of the U.S. economy itself, took the time to redo his contract to ensure he would be enriched should Freddie Mac fail. It’s so inspring to have someone at the top looking out solely for himself while mortgage rates were going up and millions of Americans faced losing their homes.
That little tactic, in and of itself, should give the government more cause to step in and say: No way. We own the place now - and we no longer have to put up big salaries for no-talent executives to enjoy cushy retirements while everyone else pays for their mistakes.
Here’s hoping the government makes an example of these two — and quickly — before top executives at all those failing banks get the same idea and start rewriting their own employment contracts

Changing Life

So far it looks like shareholders, employees and, of course, taxpayers are the big losers in the unprecedented Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout just announced over the weekend.
But some people are going to come out of this mess just fine, The New York Times says. And guess who that might be?
Departing chief executives Daniel Mudd at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Richard Syron could leave with lucrative pay packages totaling milions of dollars. All this despite the fact that the companies they headed failed so spectacularly the government had to step in.
From The Times:
Under the terms of his employment contract, Daniel H. Mudd, the departing head of Fannie Mae, stands to collect $9.3 million in severance pay, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, provided his dismissal is deemed to be “without cause,” according to an analysis by the consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates. Mr. Mudd has already taken home $12.4 million in cash compensation and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2004, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
Richard F. Syron, the departing chief executive of Freddie Mac, could receive an exit package of at least $14.1 million, largely because of a clause added to his employment contract in mid-July as his company’s troubles deepened. He has taken home $17.1 million in pay and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2003.
It’s nice to know that Syron, in the midst of a meltdown of his company that threatened the stability of the housing market and of the U.S. economy itself, took the time to redo his contract to ensure he would be enriched should Freddie Mac fail. It’s so inspring to have someone at the top looking out solely for himself while mortgage rates were going up and millions of Americans faced losing their homes.
That little tactic, in and of itself, should give the government more cause to step in and say: No way. We own the place now - and we no longer have to put up big salaries for no-talent executives to enjoy cushy retirements while everyone else pays for their mistakes.
Here’s hoping the government makes an example of these two — and quickly — before top executives at all those failing banks get the same idea and start rewriting their own employment contracts

Economiy resolution

So far it looks like shareholders, employees and, of course, taxpayers are the big losers in the unprecedented Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout just announced over the weekend.
But some people are going to come out of this mess just fine, The New York Times says. And guess who that might be?
Departing chief executives Daniel Mudd at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Richard Syron could leave with lucrative pay packages totaling milions of dollars. All this despite the fact that the companies they headed failed so spectacularly the government had to step in.
From The Times:
Under the terms of his employment contract, Daniel H. Mudd, the departing head of Fannie Mae, stands to collect $9.3 million in severance pay, retirement benefits and deferred compensation, provided his dismissal is deemed to be “without cause,” according to an analysis by the consulting firm James F. Reda & Associates. Mr. Mudd has already taken home $12.4 million in cash compensation and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2004, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
Richard F. Syron, the departing chief executive of Freddie Mac, could receive an exit package of at least $14.1 million, largely because of a clause added to his employment contract in mid-July as his company’s troubles deepened. He has taken home $17.1 million in pay and stock option gains since becoming chief executive in 2003.
It’s nice to know that Syron, in the midst of a meltdown of his company that threatened the stability of the housing market and of the U.S. economy itself, took the time to redo his contract to ensure he would be enriched should Freddie Mac fail. It’s so inspring to have someone at the top looking out solely for himself while mortgage rates were going up and millions of Americans faced losing their homes.
That little tactic, in and of itself, should give the government more cause to step in and say: No way. We own the place now - and we no longer have to put up big salaries for no-talent executives to enjoy cushy retirements while everyone else pays for their mistakes.
Here’s hoping the government makes an example of these two — and quickly — before top executives at all those failing banks get the same idea and start rewriting their own employment contracts

Economic solution is been the major problems of the global market inthe world today,
Challenged to move away from generalities and bromides and provide specifics about fixing America’s troubled economic situation, Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, has at last responded. He presented a sweeping new idea so startling that not even top economists and leading banking regulation authorities would answer phone calls seeking comment.
“Every American should buy an Amway distributorship, sit back and watch the cash pour in,” the Arizona senator declared. “I’ve studied almost every page of the Amway pamphlet. Everybody will get rich. My economic advisers tell me this would have a very fundamental effect on fundamental things — like jobs.”
McCain further predicted that Amway’s vast line of household products, spurred by huge new demand after franchisees start beating the bushes to sell Amway distributorships to others, who will sell distributorships to still others, who will sell distributorships to the yet others, one of whom will actually have to buy Amway products to sell,
This will also create a “tsunami” in the manufacturing and raw materials sectors as suppliers of alkali, palm oil, ammonia and other staples scramble to produce enough soap, sponges, stain-remover and other key commodities to stock distributors’ basements and garages nationwide.
“This is my very own idea,” the Vietnam War hero and 26-year Capitol Hill veteran emphasized. “Cindy [McCain's wife] thought everybody should buy a beer distributorship instead,” he disclosed, “but not in Arizona.
“I told her that wouldn’t be fair to the fine folks, the Arizonans, or Arizonians, or whatever,” McCain continued, “and, after all, my fundamental principle is fundamentally fairness to all, I believe. But, by then, I realized Cindy had gone shopping.”
Bruce McCall, a humorist, is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. He is the author of “All Meat Looks Like South America: The World of Bruce McCall” and “Zany Afternoons.”