Executives, Bonus | featured news

Only days after being unable to work things out with a striking union, and forcing us all to devour faux Twinkies for our creamy, spongy sugar fix, the folks at Hostess Brands Inc. are asking for a bankruptcy court to approve up to $1.8 million in bonus payments to top executives.

Goldman Sachs said its top 30 executives won't receive a cash bonus for 2009 and that shareholders will be given an advisory vote on executive pay.

A top executive at troubled insurer AIG publicly resigns and says he will donate his entire bonus to charity.

Executives say legislation to severely tax bonuses may imperil the housing recovery program.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on legislation to try to recoup bonuses paid to Wall Street executives with taxpayer money.

The New York attorney general's office on Wednesday subpoenaed seven former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives as part of its ongoing investigation into the timing of year-end payments made to executives at the investment bank.

Postmaster General John E. Potter recently warned that economic times are so dire that the U.S. Postal Service may end mail delivery one day a week and freeze executive salaries. He failed to mention that his own total compensation and retirement benefits to more than $800,000 in 2008. That is more than double the salary for President Obama.

Facing a stricter approach to limiting executive bonuses than it had favored, the Obama administration wants to revise that part of the stimulus package even after it becomes law, White House officials said Sunday.