Ok... So I don't actually get an executive bonus.. I rarely wear a tie, and get to wear jeans to work.

Still... If I did, and someone came along and said I couldnt have it, I would probably start seeking employment else where...

"Why?" you may ask... The company got a bailout, or the company is having other financial issues.

Why?!?!  Because in that position, when I was hired, I was given a compensation package that defined my compensation for the extensive skillset that I brought to the table.  A skill set that other companies were competing for as well.  I negotiated that compensation package just like you negotiated, or shoudl have negotiated, your salary or hourly rate.

I might have gotten a higher salary elsewhere.  Instead, I took this role because the company contracted with me for a salary plus bonus schedule based on my department's performance.

My department was very profitable this year.  Why should I be punished because other departments did not perform well?  I did my job and did it well.  I made millions for my company.  I have earned and deserve that bonus.

Executive bonus is not any less a contractual obligation to a company than a vendor's invoice.

The American people need to quit whining about various executives getting paid.  Would they like to skip a pay period?  Maybe they would like to go without their raises.  May be a month off without pay would be in order... That would be the effect of suspending my bonus.  I earned it, I budgeted based on it based on my performance over time.

To withhold that bonus now would cause my family irrepairable harm.  Whether it be $500 or $500M.  It was earned compensation for work done.

Witholding an executive bonus would be like renegotiating the price of your groceries after you ate them.

Personally, I would love to get a nice bonus check.  $500 would be ok, $500M would be alot better.

I don't typically get a bonus check anymore.  It could happen, but to my knowledge that is not on the table right now.  I have received them in the past, some of them very nice at the time.  But not i the last few years.

The point is that there is a contractual obligation that those companies that received the stimulus loans already had.   To recall that money now is like refusing to pay the contractor after he remodelled your home because he did too good a job.

The better plan would have been NOT to loan a failing company that kind of money and let the chips fall where they may.  The profitiable divisions will be spun off and bought up by other successful companies. Failing divisions would be sold at auction for their asset value.  The people who did not do their jobs well will need to find something else to do.

The money was loaned.  Anyone with half a brain knows that staff compensation is one of the top obligations of any company.  But somehow we are suprised when those companies actually paid their people.

I mean really.  If you quite your job to work someplace else for $5M and after you did the job they decided to only pay you $5k, what would your wife say.  How would your children react?  How would YOU react?

Let's get some perspective out there.  The salaries may be exhorbitant in your world, but in many peoples' worlds it is the norm. And taking from their normal income has much the same effect as taking from yours.  Maybe even greater - as these people are the largest contributors to various public service non-profits.

Also, if these executives get their compensation pulled, why would your children ever want to grow up to be one?  What would motivate them to try to be more than factory labor.

Enough of my rant... I need to get back to work trying to cook with no food, relaxing on my make-believe sofa, investing the theoretic monies I should be getting - all while trying to contemplate my next step up the corporate ladder.