Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves

by Andrew Ross Sorkin

The conversation soon turned to executive compensation. While everyone in the room was aware of the potential political fallout over huge bonuses being paid out by firms requiring taxpayer rescue, it was Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who spoke to the issue. He made it abundantly clear that he was furious with Paulson for not having insisted on strict limits on compensation for the managements of banks that would take advantage of the program. In Baucus’s view the executives should be entitled to next to nothing—and at the very minimum they should be forced to give up golden parachutes and other perks.