Market Failure

According to the Times, scores of CEOs made more than $10 million in 2008. A handful made more than $50 million. The list is here.

Vikram Pandit of Citigroup made $38.2 million. Part of me wants to point out that Citigroup's stock was down 77% during that time period. But that would suggest that under some circumstances a CEO's labor would actually be worth $38.2 million.

I believe it takes a certain skill to be a CEO. It may even be a rare skill. It may even be a rare skill that also has the ability to produce significant financial gain to shareholders (although obviously not in this case). But really? $38.2 million? Are these skills really that rare? Might a better explanation be that corporate boards aren't bargaining hard enough for CEO labor?

Actual Owners

Though it went public a decade ago, this article makes it seem like Goldman executives still act like it's a partnership — designed to protect the interests of the company's leaders rather than those of the shareholders who are, you know, the actual owners of the corporation. 

In some ways one can see the current banking crisis as an expression of an alarming gap between the narrow, short term interest of banker-employees and the broader, longer term interests of shareholder-owners. Theoretically, the bankers work for the shareholders, but when push comes to shove, the bankers take care of themselves and each other at the shareholder's expense. 

Bushvilles

After three decades in which many Americans and both political parties largely talked about poverty as though it were a moral failing, I wonder if broadened economic dislocation will foster greater compassion.

Hey Paul Krugman

It may not catch on like that will.i.am video. But feels like it expresses the uncertainty of the moment.