Goldman CEO swings for saner pay system - and misses

Yesterday someone asked me what I thought about Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein's comments on Wall Street pay. My first reaction is that as a fellow who made $43 million in 2008 -- to be fair, Goldman actually made a $2.3 billion profit in 2008 -- Blankfein obviously knows a thing or two about the Wall Street pay envelope.

And he gets points for trying to balance Goldman's interests with those of the public -- but he still missed the mark. I think Wall Street needs its pay in escrow -- if its deals pay off after three years, bankers get the escrow cash; if not, that escrow pays the deals' investors.