Severance Insurance

No question that Citi's and Merrill's CEO's deserve to lose their jobs. But what about the Boards of Directors? What were they doing. What reports were they reading? Why didn't they challenge management on the disproportionate portfolio growth in sub-prime mortgages?

What's really interesting to me is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of discussion beyond the reality that banks are taking hits to their earnings and will probably take more. No one seems to be focused on the overall impact that the increased number of foreclosed houses is going to have on the real estate market and the prices that these houses are going to have to be listed for in order to get them off the banks' balance sheets. It's already happening. My daughter pointed out a house over the weekend in one of suburban Boston's tonier areas that was on the market for $659k. A year ago that house would have been on the market for something above $850.

I've got to think that recession follows, and when that happens more jobs are going to be lost.


willy