Will compensation cop 'claw back' TARP-paid bonuses?

Updated

Kenneth Feinberg -- AKA the comp cop -- is the point man for deciding how much top executives at financial institutions (FIs) with TARP money will get paid. Not only can he decide how much the top 25 executives at these FIs will make, but he can attempt to get them to disgorge the money that they've already paid themselves. But should the comp cop "claw back" those TARP- paid bonuses?

It's not exactly clear how he'll decide. It seems to me that his job balances the need to sop up the populist rage against these FIs for using taxpayer money against the risk to that same taxpayer of losing his or her investment if the FI in question loses its money-making employees who bolt when they are forced to repay their bonuses or get better paying offers elsewhere.

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