Ken Lewis Should Get Paid

[erpowers]

I understand some people on this website will not be happy with my making this statement, but it stems from my feeling that anyone who goes to work should get paid to work. I do not completely dislike the idea that Lewis will not get paid for 2009, but I do think he should be paid for working. I also understand that ken Lewis is not really losing anything in that he will leave Bank Of America with a very large sum of money. In addition, I understand the argument that if the government had not bailed out Bank Of America and other companies the CEOs of these companies might not have jobs today so they might not have had salaries.

However, the government chose to bail out these companies and the government chose not to fire the CEOs. As a result, as long as these individuals go to work they should get paid. I think the government and/or the pay czar should have done one of three things. First, try to force the stock holders or Bank of America corporate board to fire Lewis. Second, prevent Lewis from getting a bonus. Third, come up with a payment level that reflected that Lewis' company was doing well at least partly due to government money. I know some will say that payment plan would be to not pay Lewis. If that is the case then they should have just fired him. Since he was allowed to keep his job and he did some form of work he should have at least been paid minimum wage.

[Warpy]

1. I agree, minimum wage is the floor

that the rest of us have to deal with. He deserves that much and should be paid accordingly.

The resentment toward him by the rest of the BofA execs is understandable. While they might have been able to survive taking on Countrywide, the Merrill Lynch fiasco has nearly destroyed them. In addition, the Banc of America (not a typo) investment arm is being turned over to Merrill and their employees are being put in control while Banc of America employees are ousted. That has caused a great deal of resentment throughout the company.

Ken Lewis is an incredibly bad manager. However, even bad managers who get fired need to be paid for their efforts, and minimum wage is what Congress has enacted as the wage floor.

[FarCenter]

2. How many hours did he work? I doubt that he punches a time clock.

At his level, an hourly wage is irrelevant. At his level, pay is for performance, not effort.

He didn't perform. He made an appallingly bad acquisition of Countrywide, which should have been allowed to fail. Then he allowed himself to be pressured into a bad deal for Merrill.

Compare those acquisitions by BofA with the acquisitions of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual by JPMC. In the latter two cases JPMC allowed the acquired companies to progress to truly desparate circumstances before picking them up on very favorable terms.

[Warpy]

4. Oh, I'm sure he'll guesstimate at least an 80 hour work week

because executives think time on the golf course with associates is work.

At minimum wage, that's fine.

[JackRiddler]

3. Yes, he should get the same wage as the other prisoners stamping licence plates.