WaMu says screw mortgage holders and save exec bonuses

Surely Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was making sure, withits executive bonus worries, Washington Mutual was under his especial focus of his three-quarter point rate cut, and will be at the front of the line for future bailout needs:

After CEO Kerry Killinger and other top executives missed all or a big part of their bonus pay last year, Washington Mutual wasted little time taking steps to apparently make sure it won't happen again — even if the mortgage market and the company remain in the tank.

The board decided in February to use different performance yardsticks that could make it look like Killinger and other top executives were doing great jobs — and all but ensure them millions of dollars in bonuses for 2008. ...

If the bank meets its watered-down performance hurdles this year, Killinger stands to pocket $3.6 million as a bonus for 2008, or about 365% of his base salary.

Shockingly, he'd get that bonus even if shareholders see more lousy performance at Washington Mutual. Killinger is at least partly responsible, given that he led the bank so deeply into the subprime morass. The company reported a nearly $1.9 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2007, and analysts have forecast losses throughout 2008.

Those huge losses piling up because of subprime loans and foreclosures? At bonus time, the bank will ignore them.
Somehow, I doubt WaMu will let you “ignore” a mortgage payment just because you, too have “huge losses piling up.”

But, there is one way you can strike back:

Executive bonuses will be doled out for squishy achievements such as improvements in customer loyalty.

Got money in WaMu? Move it. Anywhere.

Got a loan it originated? Find a way to move that too.

And when WaMu calls you, tell it where it can shove its fucking customer loyalty.

Unfortunately, as the second and third webpages make clear, WaMu isn’t alone in lowering the bar on executive bonus targets.

Where is The CEO President? Why is he not decrying “the soft bigotry of low executive expectations”?