And if by “started this debacle” you mean Merrill Lynch was one of the first companies to succumb to the effects of shoddy, predatory, badly regulated lending practices that have been rampant throughout the industry, I’ll agree with you there too.
I’m also glad you’re above bringing up the argument “see what happens when a black man run a financial services co.” That’s mighty big-, uhmm, hearted of you.
Even before the current crisis, I’ve always wondered how WAMU could sustain the growth I saw occurring just in the New York area alone. I’m also wondering the same about Capital One’s 30 branches a day growth (exaggeration, of course).
That’s simply his severance package. As a CEO he earned ±500 million since 2002.
If what you mean by “succumb” is actively embraced and pursued, than ya.
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I’m also glad you’re above bringing up the argument “see what happens when a black man run a financial services co.” That’s mighty big-, uhmm, hearted of you.
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As a racial argument I would argue Skilling and all the other white guys over at Enron were able to lie consistently for years on end, while Stan O’neil, being black, had his lies unravel in only two weeks.
One might also argue that white men are smarter since they can lie and get away with it longer.
Or one, might argue that Black people have higher integrity because Stan’s conscience just did not allow him to continue on in the lie.
OR… you might take me at my word, which is that it is just asinine and stupid to insert race as a factor in these sort of things. WAMU or Merrill’s problems have nothing to do with the color of the skin of their management. The OP deserves to get his smacked for suggesting otherwise as such blatant fucking stupidity is nothing but counterproductive.
I’m sure there was some truthiness involved. Things do tend to go ballistic right before they pop.
No. Absolutely not. FDIC has taken over. Your account is no longer a WaMu account, it is now a JPMorganChase account. Nothing changes except for the name of the company servicing it. You should not encounter any interruption of services. You will be contacted in the near future confirming this. Bankcards, checks, et al should all work fine and continuously.
Thanks, Scylla. I figured a small potatoes account like mine was probably going to be unaffected, but, since my debit card is in California with my wife and daughter, while I’m in Oklahoma, it’s nice to have the reassurance.
Well, it’s not exactly that guy’s fault that the bank failed; it had lost $20 billion already when he was hired, and his signing bonus and severance were guaranteed. It’s not really any different than making sure the tellers got their last weeks’ pay before paying off the creditors, except that his last weeks’ pay happens to be $20 mil.
No. The Fed has transferred control of WAMU to JP Morgan Chase. Business will basically be as usual, just under the auspices of a much, much bigger company. Gradually, they’ll rebrand the bank branches and your cards and checks and so on. As a bonus, you’ll be able to use Chase ATMs soon. See here.
*I have a CD and two savings accounts at WAMU so I was worried for a while too.
Oh, I didn’t think he did much damage to the company, since he was only on the job for 17 days, but with all the stink lately about CEOs of failing companies walking away with tens of millions this is just another WTF moment for me. As I understand it, high level executives sign a contract, unlike the rest of us peons who go through an interview and get hired. What I don’t understand is why the board of directors would not WANT to tie a CEOs salary/bonus to the performance of the company, not only positively but negatively. Woudn’t that give them an incentive to make the company profitable? As it is now, this guy probably did not do a whole hell of a lot and still walked away with more than $1 million for each day worked. And how can the board of directors of WaMu sign that check with a straight face? Are you (generic you, not specifically RNATB) telling me you can’t get good quality people in the executive suite unless you promise them the sun, the moon, and the stars?
“All star performers deserve all star pay. Do you want Michael Jordan on your team or Bill Wennington? You have to pay these guys well to get the top performers.” :rolleyes:
I guess that’s the thing that gets me when people say things like the above. I can see why top athletes, singers, and actresses get what they do - they simply do things that no one else could do. But what do these CEOs do that the average guy can’t? What decisions are they making that are too complicated that your average guy (average guy in their particular field, that is) that makes their pay commensurate with their results?
It depends on what you need them for. If you (Board of Governors you) are looking for a quick, relatively cheap way to boost your stock price, you hire a hotshot CEO. In order to generate a noticeable effect, you need to hire a CEO so hotshottish that the analysts at Coopers’ or KPMG or Merrill or TD Waterhouse or JP Morgan or [insert name of merchant bank/financial institution that hasn’t gone under yet] know the person’s name and can write a “Buy!” advisory with a brief narrative about whatever other company he/she turned around last week.
It’s a bit like the ridiculous pay hike that football coaches receive when they go from small colleges/minor league teams to BCS colleges or the NFL; boosters/fans/etc. want the athletic director to hire a name they recognise, and they only recognise maybe a hundred names at most. So, if you’re on that list of a hundred, and haven’t done anything stupid lately, you can effectively name your price.
In business, you have the added factor that the people who hire CEOs- board members- are generally also CEOs, so guaranteeing huge salaries works in their favor when it comes to negotiating their next salary.
I know a lot of people, me included, who would have done this CEO’s job for one hell of a lot less money than the incumbent. And I’m sure, with a little effort, I could have bankrupted the place in less than 17 days, thereby saving the stockholders even more money. I say those high level jobs should be put out for bidding on a contract basis; lowest bidder gets the job.
The financial industry seemed to be a lot more stable when Rothschilds and all the rest of the Jews ran it! They were stingy enough to be sure to lend money only to people who were pretty likely to pay it back. We ought’ta get rid of those stodgy white men and put some hooked-nose Jews back in charge of the banks!
P.S. Yes, this is satire. Please hold all the flaming attack emails.
And here’s me thinking “hah, the only way this industry could have gone down the toilet any faster is if they had meth-drinking rotten-toed randomly-shouting hobos in charge”. Can you beat a bid of 'will run major bank for two litres of industrial alcohol and a sheltered doorway to live in?"
As far as that Fishman dude goes, when someone called offering the chance to rescue a broken company that was circling the drain, he obviously had the common sense to ask for a big salary paid in advance. Good on him. He’s demonstrably smarter than fuckwits like e.g. Fuld. According to here
The first criteria for choosing someone to look after your own investments should be that he at least has the competence to look after his own. How the hell can anyone be so arrogant they trash their company, ruin tens of thousands of employees, and flush a BILLION dollars of their own money rather than admit they’ve taken a wrong turn?
I’m absolutely not saying that WaMu failed because of the race of its management.