The last time I looked there were hundreds of thousands -no, millions- of Americans out of work. So what's this explicatory delusion that corporations and government-controlled companies need to give their employees (especially their highly-paid employees) "retention packages?" It's not as if people with good jobs are going to leave them to try to get others jobs in this cruel employment market.
The Boston Globe has an intriguing story today about Fannie and Freddie Mac (what a nice couple) giving out retention bonuses to keep hundreds of employees who, they say, might otherwise jump ship. Fannie has already given the cash and also reported on its largesse. Its executive vice president received $611,000 in "retention award" on top of $676,000 in ordinary salary. Hundreds of other employees are also getting extras, big extras. Top-paid executives, reports the Globe, will have taken home at least $475,000 on top of base. This year's bonuses are twice what they were last year. What's the explanation for that?
Fannie must have had a very good year to be spreading the jam so handsomely. I don't recall how much Fannie took from the federal till last year. Just recently it requested $15 billion in urgent help.
Freddie has requested much more: almost $45 billion. Its retention bonuses will, then, probably be larger.
Isn't there something horribly wrong here? More and more people are going on unemployment insurance, never a lot of money. And more and more people are by now falling off the rolls. And these privileged characters who are actually federal employees are taking home more than a billion bucks.
Anyway, just be assured: this is not socialism.