A great gig if you can get it

Hey, if you are an AIG executive, you need to get a gig at Fannie Mae, where apparently, losing billions of taxpayer dollars doesn't get you fired or pay reduction but a raise.....

The pay package given to Freddie Mac's new chief financial officer should have sent a message from Washington to corporate America about how executive compensation standards must change. Instead, it did just the opposite.

The government-controlled mortgage finance company is giving CFO Ross Kari compensation worth as much as $5.5 million. That includes an almost $2 million cash signing bonus and a generous salary that could top $2.3 million. (emphasis added.)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie Mac, approved the pay package. A spokeswoman pointed to a statement that justified the agency's approval of the pay, which was done in part because the amount was comparable to what others in the financial services industry make.

Apparently, they didn't clear that through Ken Feinberg, pay czar and the final arbiter of what's fair.

Thanks reader Jeremy.