Credit where credit is due

A point that Sen. McCain and I agree on wholeheartedly:

Bill Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, made $19.6 million last year, according to The Wall Street Journal. As we all know, this extremely highly paid housing-finance executive somehow managed to overlook the largest housing bubble in the history of the world. If he had seen the bubble and stopped pumping mortgage credit into bubble-inflated markets, he could have stopped the bubble from growing to such dangerous levels. Freddie Mac also would not be facing bankruptcy and running to Congress for government handouts.

While Congress shows little interest in holding Mr. Syron responsible or bringing his pay more in line with performance, Sen. McCain has the right idea. He noted that Mr. Syron is effectively working for the government in the wake of the bailout. Therefore, he suggested he get a government salary. The top of the civil-service pay scale might get him close to $200,000 a year. That's probably still considerably more than what he deserves, but a lot less than he is currently set to pocket.

(via American Prospect)