David in D

Why Capping Pay Is Likely to Work

I'd like to challenge the assumption that you can't attract "top talent" for $500K a year. While there are several posters who have already echoed this position, perhaps we need to reimagine what motivates the "best" people to work in a given situation.

How would you rate Obama's ability as an executive? He's working for $400K a year. What about other senior government officials? Furthermore, many of the smartest people in the world forego the riches of the private industry and serve the private good by pursuing jobs in the non-profit, NGO, and academic worlds. These folks make fractions of what we are talking about here.

PERHAPS THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO IS ONLY MOTIVATED BY THE FINANCIAL REWARDS OF THE JOB IS PRECISELY THE WRONG LEADER TO "REFORM" A GIVEN BANK AND THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE. That's probably a tough pill for many in the industry to swallow, but if you are primarily motivated by money, you'll probably continue the greedy paradigms that got us into this mess.

The Main Street - Wall Street Bout, Round Two

Kathy, I like your articles generally, but I think you are wrong on this one. I agree with numerous posts above and would like to say that "main street (generally) isn't stupid." There is a strong judgment from many Wall St. types that they know what is best for the average Joe and frankly I think they have been living in Manhattan too long.

Yes, average Americans generally understand that not providing a bailout will cause immediate problems, but frankly average Americans have not benefitted much from the economic forces of the last three decades.

The revolt, although somewhat knee-jerk and unconscious, is really about the widening wealth gap in America and until the US government wants to acknowledge that the middle-class has been getting screwed while Wall St. elites have been reaping rewards, we will fundamentally go no where.

An agreement must be reached that "insures" the risk at hand and companies who made dumb decisions should pay an appropriate premium for that insurance... otherwise they should go bankrupt with the consumers who made bad decisions borrowing what they did.

We have got to quick rewarding bad decisions!

The Great Bank Rush of 2008: What's the Money For?

Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea. I wish there were a way for a broader readership to find out more about this. Very helpful, thanks.