Benefits Think

I disagree that there will or may be an exodus of the "best and brightest of our financial geniuses",since few countries pay bonuses at that level.

These greedy executives ran their companies into bankruptcy, begged for a bailout, then squandered our tax dollars on vacations, bonuses, raises and furniture. If the foreign banks want them, let them have them. There are plenty of qualified people out there who will walk into their jobs for $500,000...

Steal the talent? How talented can these executives be if they are driving their companies to financial ruin? Foreign institutions can steal all they want from this talent pool and watch their companies go down the toilet too.

If not a salary cap, how does Mr. Rayner suggest we hold accountable the execs of companies that are using tax payer money to bail them out? Mr. Rayner's argument might have some legitimacy, but does he have a better answer?

How much talent does it take to bring an entire industry down?

I know, I know -- there's nothing you'd rather do than bone up on HIPAA. But it remains one of the nation's thorniest benefits-related laws, and the more information the better, yes?

Although employers have maintained recruiting college graduates for full-time hire, companies are beginning to discover that hiring new grads as interns can yield a high return in the form of cheap -- ahem, cost effective -- labor.

In this economy, free is a word that isn't heard very often, but sure is appreciated. So I knew you'd want to know about the slate of five free forums (say it three times fast) being sponsored by Unum and the Disability Management Employer Coalition.

As another cringe-worthy sign of the times, a new Mercer data on Fortune 1500 companies show pension plan funded status at the end of Jan was unchanged from Dec., indicating funded status of plans sponsored by the largest U.S. companies remained at 75%.

This month, EBN reports that the trillions of dollars lost in national wealth from collapsing companies, lost jobs and homes, failing banks and sliding stock market as a result of the recession is simply too large for Americans to comprehend -- yet too large for them to ignore either, according to the...