ABC News: GM’s Rick Wagoner will receive a $20 million retirement plan.

[ProSense]

ABC News: GM’s Rick Wagoner will receive a $20 million retirement plan.

ABC News reports that Rick Wagoner, outgoing CEO of General Motors, will be eligible to collect $20 million in retirement benefits from GM, the company that lost tens of billions of dollars under Wagoner’s leadership:

Upon his departure, Wagoner becomes eligible for both a “Salaried Retirement Plan” and an “Executive Retirement Plan” with General Motors. The combined value of the plans at the end of last year was $20.2 million, a GM spokesperson confirmed.

“Most of that will be paid out as an annuity over five years, the remainder is a small lifetime annuity,” said GM spokeswoman Julie M. Gibson.

However, the Washington Post reported this morning that Wagoner would not be leaving GM immediately, “because if he leaves the company he is entitled to a multimillion-dollar pension that the government does not want to pay.” Additionally, under the already-standing TARP agreement between GM and the Treasury Department, GM Is not allowed to pay severence fees to senior executives. “That ban does not appear to apply to retirement benefits, however.”

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. Nobody's worried about him. We're worried about the union members.

[Deja Q]

4. Quite. They'll just offshore the work; we're all "stupid".

[ProSense]

13. Oh, the Wagoner pity party is in full effect. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

17. Weren't many of the people that are throwing the pity party..,

...the same people who were calling for his head a few months ago over flying in a private jet? What's changed here? Their perception of whose side Obama is on?

[FrenchieCat]

2. ABC selling more outrage......

Just because it can.

[Deja Q]

3. I wish more people could wreck their companies; get a nice $20 million severance package.

I suspected something like this would be the case.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. He probably was thrilled to leave.

[JayMusgrove]

7. I'd love to retire with 20 million, I'm sure he's happy to go!!!!!!! n/t

[demokatgurrl]

6. Wow.

:cry:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. my school district won't give me a $20 million retirement

maybe I should ask them?

[Skidmore]

14. His retirement plan could probably buy new books for all the children in your school

several times over, or pay for band instruments and art supplies for several years.

[subterranean]

9. Only $20 million? That seems relatively modest for a CEO these days.

[Mopar151]

12. Especially since it's pension

No golden parachute/hush money.
I agree - cheap money for a bum's rush at that level.

[rucky]

10. How many pensions did he have to rob to earn that?

[Vinca]

11. The poor man. How will he ever get by?

[texastoast]

15. Well this is a fucking outrage

Not only for the GM workers, but for us taxpayers.

How can this be happening at all?

[amandabeech]

16. Absolutely.

Maybe the bankruptcy judge will disallow it.

[NikolaC]

18. Unbelievable

Yet the state of Michigan shakes down a homeless woman for room and board for her son in a juvenile detention center and imprisons her when she cannot afford to pay. Like many have said, if we mess up at our jobs we are not rewarded for it. As a matter of fact, we would be lucky not to be fired. However, execs like Wagoner make billion dollar fuck ups and get multi-million dollar severance and pension pay. It's amazing that the people who actually do the work and physically make the cars are asked to make sacrifices and concessions, but this jerk walks away without making the kind of sacrifices that they have had to.

[Sgent]

19. It sounds like a deferred compensation agreement

Deferred compensation is used by highly paid employees to contribute additional earnings to their retirement. It works somewhat like this:

Salary $5,000,000
Def. Comp $1,000,000, plus often a company match which is also taxed
Salary after Def. Com 4,000,000 (but I have to pay taxes like I got 5 million in salary)

Deferred comp without the company match (which may or may not be provided) is no different than buying an annuity, but he invests in GM rather than an insurance company.