Posted by
Icarus on Friday, September 26, 2008 4:02:55 PM
How's this for get
rich quick scheme (rather get
richer scheme): Get hired by a company in order to turn around a failing company, "work" for three weeks, then, while flying cross country in first class, get fired
AND collect almost $20 million when the company you were hired to save goes under. That, in a nutshell, is how the former Washington Mutual CEO cashed out on
not doing his job.
"[Alan H.] Fishman, who formerly was
chairman of Meridian Capital Group, apparently was much coveted by
WaMu, which was counting on him to lead the failing thrift out of
mortgage troubles that pushed the bank to a $3.3 billion second-quarter
loss.
"According
to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WaMu threw a
$7.5 million bonus at Fishman when it hired him on Sept. 8, and
guaranteed him an immediate cash severence of $11.6 million — both of
which he gets to keep.
There are a lot of free market fundamentalists who will defend this. To them I would say, try this at your next job. Get hired to do something, don't do it, and then see how much money you can get when your employer hands you your walking papers. This is also why a lot of people will vote for the radical left-wing Obamessiah.
I will also be taking my money out of Washington Mutual and looking for another institution. Given that I haven't heard of any Credit Unions going under during this crisis, I will likely put my money in Navy Federal.