Number of the Day

$611,000. The amount mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae reportedly plans to dole out to each of four key executives in retention bonuses "as part of a plan to keep hundreds of employees from leaving the government-controlled company."

Fannie Mae disclosed its "broad-based" retention program in a recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company was only required to disclose the amounts for the top-paid executives, who will pocket at least $470,000 on top of their base salaries. The bonuses are more than double last year's, which ranged from $200,000 to $260,000.

In the interim, Fannie Mae has requested $15 billion in federal aid.

Am I living in a totally different country than these people? Because my question about these "retention bonuses" is: Where the fuck are they expecting these employees to go?

It's not exactly what one might call a hot job market, and every financial employee I know is scared shitless of losing hir job and not being able to find another one because no one is hiring.