“Where else could they go?” Pt. 2

Posted by Marc Hodak on April 13, 2009 under Executive compensation, Reporting on pay, Unintended consequences | 3 Comments to Read

The NYT provides a good story about how the Wall Street pay restrictions may be having its effect.  Some of the remaining glib tropes we’ll undoubtedly to hear:

– “So what?  How much can these people have been worth to companies they helped drive under?”

– “They don’t need these people.  The industry had to shrink anyway.”

– “These people are just being greedy, looking for other ways to get rich doing useless things.”

In the meantime, we taxpayers will reap the ‘benefits’ of our government’s politically driven HR policies at institutions completely dependent on the quality of their human resources.  What we’ve saved from not “wasting” money on compensation, what we’ve cathartically gained from “tough talk” to the bankers, we will lose a thousand-fold from sub-optimal bank earnings and, in New York’s case, crippled tax collections.  Hopefully, the NYT will run a story on those items when they happen, as well.