Commentary: 'No possible way to justify' bonus request

Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's "Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull" at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays. She delivered this commentary during the "Cutting through the Bull" segment of Monday night's broadcast.
CNN's Campbell Brown says "there is no possible way to justify" CEO Jeff Thain's $10 million bonus request.





(CNN) -- You know, it may be we have been looking at the economic picture all wrong.
The notion that perhaps things really aren't so awful as all that popped into our heads today when we heard the CEO of Merrill Lynch was putting in for a $10 million bonus for 2008 -- mostly because, in 2008, he adeptly held Merrill Lynch down to a loss of only $11.67 billion.
Now, put it in context. This was at a time when Wall Street rivals like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns collapsed entirely.
John Thain is the CEO we are talking about, and he also argued he was able to arrange the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America during these troubled times. And that orchestrating the sale of an outfit that had lost more than $11 billion surely ought to be worth some big bonus cash. Watch Campbell Brown's commentary »


http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/08/campbell.economic.crisis/index.html#cnnSTCText