Bailout bonus culture

The numbers in this study speak for themselves:

From 2006 through 2008, the top five executives at the 20 banks that have accepted the most federal bailout dollars since the meltdown averaged $32 million each in personal compensation.

That's each. And don't forget that includes a couple years where some CEO's paid themselves very little because, well, their companies were facing bankruptcy. Imagine the payday if they had actually done a good job!

Because large numbers can be difficult to grasp, the writers of the study provide some context:

One hundred average U.S. workers would have to labor over 1,000 years to make as much as these 100 executives made in three.

With that kind of example at the top, the result can only be car salesmen culture. Yes, some car salesmen take a long view and don't try to sell you something inappropriate, but they are clearly the exception. Nobody sends their grandmother by herself to negotiate a car purchase.

The bankers dress nicer and have larger vocabularies (some of my good friends are bankers!), but the result is the same. That doesn't make them evil, that just makes them people who behave according to the incentives provided by their companies.