Feds May Lift The $500k Salary Cap For Top-Tier Talent

Back in February, the federal government set a limit of $500,000 on executive salaries at any company that received bailout dollars. Of that total, only 45% could be in cash, with the remaining 55% made up of cash incentives, paid over two years. Now, Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. paymaster for rescued companies, has extended that restriction to second-tier managers, but he's also indicated that he may be willing to waive the $500,000 limit in certain cases (for example, when talented, highly paid employees threaten to quit if they don't get more dough). This could bode well for Ed Whitacre, who lamented just last month that the cap was too low to attract skilled executives -- although given the recent shakeups at GM, it may take more than $500k to lure wary talent into bloodthirsty Ed's thinning ranks. [AutoNews via Autoblog]