Of Course

Top employees leave financial firms ahead of pay cuts:

Even before the Obama administration formally tightened executive compensation at bailed-out companies, the prospect of pay cuts had led some top employees to depart.

...Many executives were driven away by the uncertainty of working for companies closely overseen by Washington, opting instead for firms not under the microscope, including competitors that have already returned the bailout funds to the government, according to executives and supervisors at the companies.

"There's no question people have left because of uncertainty of our ability to pay," said an executive at one of the affected firms. "It's a highly competitive market out there."

Of course it is. Because of billions of taxpayer dollars, the majority of which come from people employed in one of the worst job markets of their lives. Which I suppose is technically "highly competitive," too, if by "highly competitive" you mean McDonald's is getting a hundred résumés for every opening from desperate people.

I can't even begin to describe the profundity of the contempt I have for the executives who plundered the pockets of Americans, profited richly from their high-class pyramid schemes, fucked the economy in the process, got bailed out by the American taxpayers, and now balk at any suggestion their business should be more tightly regulated (i.e. regulated at all) or that they should make a little less money. Disgusting.