Even in Light of Pay Caps, Executives Still Willing to Revive Wall Street, Levine Says

2/06/09 President Obama's plan to further curb executive pay contains several loopholes, and may have a limited impact, according to an article in the February 6th issue of The Wall Street Journal. Even with loopholes, some in the field said they worry the plan will prompt an exodus of executives from companies with regulated pay to other firms. Yet, Alan Levine, a partner in Morrison Cohen's Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits practice, quoted in the article entitled "Loopholes Sap Potency of Pay Limits" by Mark Maremont and Joann S. Lublin, said that there will still be plenty of qualified people willing to run big banks at annual salaries of $500,000. There are executives who will say "I'm going to lead this bank to recovery, and when we get out of this cloud, you're going to pay me," said Levine.