Executive Compensation Runs Wild

When a financial institution, or any big business, provides tens of millions of dollars in compensation for its officers, that's money that can't be spent to raise wages for the working stiffs in the company or can't be used for research or can't be used to reinvest in the organization. It's money gone. And tell me that they couldn't find someone to do the job of just $1 million per year.

Here's a beaut of a story on executive compensation from the Los Angeles Times.

As Congress argues over limits on executive pay, the New York Times reports that the chief executive of Washington Mutual, who was on the job just 17 days, is eligible for $19.1 million in compensation.

For short-time CEO Alan H. Fishman -- named to run the failing bank less than three weeks ago -- that would work out to $1.12 million per day (assuming he worked weekends). If he worked eight-hour days, it works out to $140,000 per hour.

Here's the kicker: Fishman didn't even broker the deal to find a buyer when WaMu failed and was seized by the government; the federal government reportedly arranged the purchase by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and closed the deal while Fishman was in midair, flying from New York to Seattle.