Feinberg lowered the boom on the top 25 executives at seven firms that received extraordinary assistance from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, cutting cash salaries about 90 percent, while shifting compensation over to long-term stock options that cannot be cashed for years, a step meant to curtail risky investments.
Feinberg said he was caught in the middle. "The populists will undoubtedly say, 'You caved. You gave Wall Street financiers too much money.' The other side, the Wall Street culture, will say I put those companies at a disadvantage," he said. .
He also said that if any executives left their jobs due to his ruling, "I would be very disappointed," The New York Times reported Thursday.
Some on Wall Street have argued the move to limit salaries would cause the brightest executives to leave companies just when they need their help the most.
Feinberg said he based part of his thinking on numbers alone. "Anyone making $100 million a year is engaged in excessive risk," he said.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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