The Big One: WaMu Seizure

I don't remember who it was, and am too lazy to go look right now, but someone with an inside scoop was warning that within the coming weeks we'd see one of the biggest banks in the country fail. That day appears to have been today.

Washington Mutual was seized by federal regulators today. The nation's largest savings and loan operation and the largest bank failure in American history, according to the NY Times article. The assets of the company were immediately sold for $1.9 Billion to JPMorgan Chase which will absorb the $31 Billion in losses.

But don't worry, no will go hungry due to this failure, particularly not the CEO of WaMu. Alan H. Fishman who has been CEO for less than 3 weeks will still be able to receive $11.6 Million in severance, and keep his $7.5 Million signing bonus. Pssst, hey America, I think I know why your financial companies are in the toilet. You're paying people $19+ Million for 3 weeks of work. 3 weeks of work which ends with your company failing and being sold off for chicken feed. Seems like a bit of a problem to me.