Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Get Daily Reckoning

[Demeter]

who could begrudge Daniel Mudd’s $13.4 million 2007 pay package as CEO of Fannie Mae? Or, who would be sour enough to complain about Dick Syron’s $18.3 million wage from Freddie Mac? These guys were just getting rewarded for good performance, right?

Well, not exactly. Syron’s pay went up 25% last year – even as the company went from a $2.3 billion profit in 2006 to a $3 billion loss in ’07. And Mr. Mudd got a 7% increase, while the company posted a $2.1 billion loss and shareholders took a 33% haircut.

Okay...so maybe shareholders overpaid them a little. But that’s how compensation works in the free market; you get what you can get away with. So, bravo to them! Besides, they were helping the whole great machinery of capitalism make Americans rich. That’s why they gave out all those rich consulting contracts to former members of Congress. And that’s why they spent millions on lobbyists...angling the politicians to protect the mortgage market at all costs.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Issues/2008/DR071508.html

[comtec]

1. LOL Talk about yout name being mudd! LOL

That should have been the share holders' first warning :)

[Demeter]

2. I Had the Same Reaction