Pay Czar

Categories: Regulations

So...2008-2009 was not a great year for most people. The financial crisis shook things up in a bad way. That led to the U.S. bailout of the big banks after their irresponsible and profitable packaging of subprime mortgages: the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

TARP was handed to the big banks...money, money, money to save the big banks from going under, and taking everyone else with them. Yet the media reported on the big bonuses bank execs were getting in the midst of this crisis, with people losing their houses and jobs and retirement savings...yeah. It looked bad, to say the least.

To address this, a Pay Czar was appointed. His official name was Special Master for Compensation, and the name his mom gave him was Kenneth Feinberg. Feinberg the Pay Czar had the awkward job of monitoring the compensation big banks execs got for banks that got TARP handouts. The Pay Czar paid visits to Citi, Bank of America, AIG, Chrysler, GM, and many others.

Pay Czars do as Pay Czars do. Busy man.



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