David in D

The Top 12 Brands Likely to Disappear

I think you are wrong about GAP Inc. I think its three brand lines are actually well-differentiated and while the company may have some lean times ahead, I think it will survive. Furthermore, if you were to cut one of the three, Old Navy is not the one to cut in a down economy. Old Navy is affordable and resonably relevant.

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.