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Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), even as it loses hundreds of thousands of customers, continues to pay its executives astonishingly high salaries and overall pay packages. This according to analyst group Glass Lewis & Company.

Top managers at the telecom company were awarded pay valued at $74 million in 2007, even as the company saw massive customer defections to the competition and was preparing to toss out former CEO Gary Forsee in the process. Sounds like some recent AIG shenanigans, doesn't it? No wonder Main Street no longer trusts Wall Street. Although corporate compensation abuses are almost the norm recently, it's amazing shareholders don't stand up and scream when companies not doing well are lavishly rewarding management.

Of course, Sprint spokesperson James Fisher defended his employer by stating "It's very important to consider that 2007 was a highly unusual year because of compensation that was paid to an exiting CEO, as well as sign-on compensation paid to a new CEO ... we had significant other severance charges for executive changes during the year." Severance charges -- for a management team that ran the company into the ground. I guess all those contracts signed by incompetent management were too hard to bypass since shareholders can't blow holes in those golden parachutes.

Much as I find it hard to muster sympathy for thousands of overpaid investment bankers forced to walk to the unemployment office in their designer shoes, the news that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEMQ) won't be paying them severance made me feel a little sorry for them.

According to Bloomberg News, the New York-based firm recently notified employees that they will not receive a payment on October 3 or after. The company reneged on a promise to the fired workers to pay them severance until August 2009. Workers who want the rest of their compensation will have to file a claim with the bankruptcy court. It will take years for the former employees to get paid through Chapter 11 and even then they might only get a fraction of what they are owed.

Bloomberg reports that it is not clear how many former Lehman employees have been affected. You can bet that members of Congress and the Department of Justice will be interested to know if Chief Executive Richard Fuld will receive a golden parachute once Barclay's PLC (NYSE: BCS) completes its takeover of the once-storied New York investment bank.

For Detroit automaker General Motors (NYSE: GM) the tough times are being felt outside of the United States as sales declines in Europe are forcing the troubled manufacturer to suspend production at some European factories.

As the financial crisis that is being felt in America continues to spread, demand for autos outside of the country are also feeling the pressure, and in August, sales in Europe fell by 16%. As a result, General Motors has decided that it needs to reduce its 2008 production by about 40,000 vehicles by the end of the year.

To accomplish this production shift, the company is going to be shutting down several factories for a few weeks. Starting next week, GM's factory in Eisenach, Germany, where the company produces its Opel brand, is going to start a three-week shut down period. This news comes as another of the company's factories, one in Bochum, Germany is completing a current two-week shut down period to help reduce the company's inventories. Other temporary shut downs are taking place in England and Spain.

With financial institutions imploding in a wave of writedowns -- and executives who delivered mind-bogglingly bad performance walking away from the wreckage with millions -- Carl Icahn is seizing on the current environment to push his agenda on corporate governance reform.

Icahn announced today that he is forming United Shareholders, a lobbying group, to push for legislative reform that would outlaw shareholder-unfriendly corporate bylaws like poison pills and staggered boards.

Lobbyists get a lot of bad press, but this sounds like one effort that will actually be promoting the interests of ordinary investors. In recent months, we've seen the dangers of bad governance and poorly-aligned pay packages that induce executives to take excessive risks.

It seems that Icahn, who has spent most of his life building one of the largest fortunes in the world, is now looking out for his legacy. If Icahn's lobbying and blogging efforts have any effect on the way companies are run, it will be a good one.

The Wall Street Journal's 'Heard on the Street' column reports (subscription required) on the less than impressive results of recent stock buybacks at public companies.

When a company buys back its stock, it pays cash to shareholders for their shares, and the retires them -- in a market where the vast majority of stocks are trading well of the highs the market reached last year, many recent buybacks are looking poorly-timed. The Journal writes that "General Electric (NYSE: GE) bought back $29 billion dollars of stock, paying an average of $36 and change for each share, according to regulatory filings. This week, it sold $12.2 billion worth for $22.25 each (before fees) and put $3 billion worth of warrants, with the same strike price, in Mr. Buffett's pocket."

The column goes on to argue that dividends "make for better financial discipline and more transparency." Of course that's easy to say right after the market has tanked, but it's a pretty illogical conclusion.

The main argument against dividends is that they're incredibly inefficient, adding an extra 15% cost. A company that pays out a large portion of its income as a dividend is effectively lowering its margins by 15% -- a move that seriously hampers long-term value.

Of course it's unfortunate that GE bought back so much stock only to sell it again at a lower price, but it's a mistake to form general theories about corporate governance based on anecdotal evidence culled from a once-in-a-generation credit meltdown. Given that shareholders of publicly companies presumably feel that their stocks represent a good value, it makes much more sense for corporate brass to hand them more stock with buybacks instead of cash to pay an extra tax on.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt has sung the praises of many things in the past: consumer experience, mobile product offerings and even Google's philanthropic efforts. At the same time, Schmidt has made sure Google has evolved into a ruthless competitor that has really blindsided the internet marketplace in so many ways so fast that it caught most of us off-guard.

But can Google seriously save the world? Although tech pundits sometimes state that in tongue-in-cheek fashion, Schmidt is dead serious about it. Google's massive global infrastructure requires a ton of energy to operate. As we all know, energy costs are not exactly low. Although newer Google data center sites are chosen partly for cheap energy proximity, that's not enough. The company wants to fix the energy problem in the U.S., and they have a plan.

In short order, the shareholders of Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) have lost billions. A tier-1 private equity investor, TPG, has lost $1.3 billion on the company. And, unfortunately, thousands of WaMu employees have lost their jobs.

However, there are some winners. For example, there are the short sellers. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) is also likely to do well since the firm bought WaMu's assets for a mere $1.9 billion.

But there appears to be yet another interesting beneficiary: Alan Fishman. He is WaMu's CEO, who took the top job 18 days ago.

As should be no surprise, he signed a juicy contract: a $7.5 million signing bonus and a lump-sum payment for severance that comes to $6.15 million. In other words, if he leaves the company, he'll walk away with $13.65 million.

That's a pretty good deal in light of the fact that WaMu is the biggest bank collapse ever.

Moreover, I suppose it is yet further evidence of why Americans have low regard for the financial system. And despite huge bailouts, it's probably a good bet that little will change.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Any smart gambler, amateur or professional, knows that you only risk what you can afford to lose. That may be $1, $100, $500, or even a million dollars in a real estate or other major transaction. But only a fool bets the farm. Only a fool risks all.

What made so many bright minds all around the world foolishly bet the farm? One after another, that is what they did. Now we are all paying for it, some more than others. It was not just greed. It was something else.

How did this happen? I call it 'The Great Disconnect'.

When the managers of public companies do not suffer the same fate or consequences as their shareholders you have a disconnect! When politicians give lip service to understanding the pain of their constituencies but accept huge contributions from the enterprises they are supposed to regulate and oversee creating gargantuan conflicts of interest, you have a great disconnect.

When investment houses create financial instruments that are so complex that they cannot fathom the risk and the ratings agencies put candy coated frosting on them, you have a great disconnect!

I would propose that legislators not be allowed to accept any contribution creating a conflict of interest based on the committees they sit on. $700 billion reprise: Conservative bankers? Surely you jest!

I might even consider creating an independent committee of citizens selected from the willing, be placed in a position to review such matters.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is the new king of Wall Street whose power rivals his company's namesake John Pierpont Morgan.

Over the past year, Dimon managed to steer JPMorgan away from the subprime credit crisis while managing to keep his company's stock from cratering like his competitors'. First, he absorbed Bear Stearns after it went out of business. Now, Dimon has managed to pick up Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE: WM) -- the good parts of it anyway -- for $1.9 billion. The deal is accretive in 2009.

Dimon is proving to be Wall Street's shrewdest manager. He did not get to be so successful by being a teddy bear. Indeed, reports abound about his abrasive personality. But unlike other Wall Street CEOs, Dimon knows his job is to work for the shareholders. Dimon's zeal for cost-cutting knows no bounds. He got rid of expensive technology outsourcing contracts, figuring the company could do the work cheaper itself.

The fight between Boeing (NYSE: BA) and its machinists may go on a long, long time. While that may be bad for the union, it is much worse for Boeing. Its customers expect prompt delivery of fuel-efficient planes, especially the new Dreamliner. Boeing's management gambled on getting the union to knuckle under and lost.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "As far as our members are concerned, we are in this one for the long haul," said Mark Blondin, aerospace coordinator and lead negotiator for the 26,800 machinists. The statement does not sound conciliatory.

Shareholders are getting the worst of it. Boeing trades at about $57, down from a 52-week high over over $107. With delivery delays, revenue is certain to drop.

Boeing's case with the unions is weak. The company claims it cannot give machinists a good three-year deal because earnings may not be strong that far out. With the company's tremendous backlog, it would be hard to imagine that being true.

Boeing's management will not be remembered well by history. They thought they had leverage in a situation where they had almost none.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

The market has been waiting for billionaire investor Warren Buffet's investment company Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) to invest in a financial firm, and Buffet announced yesterday that he would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

The $5 billion will be used to purchase perpetual preferred stock bearing a 10 percent annual interest rate.

The move comes as Goldman is looking to raise $7.5 billion worth of fresh assets. In addition to the initial $5 billion investment, Berkshire also will be receive warrants to purchase an additional $5 billion worth of common stock in the company for $115 a share. The stock closed yesterday's trading at $125.05, and has jumped nearly 7% in after hours trading following this afternoon's announcement.

Circuit City Stores Inc (NYSE: CC) waited until its CEO had destroyed 91% of its shareholder value before dumping Phil Schoonover. The Washington Post reports he made $6.5 million last year and there is no word on his severance package -- I wonder why. As I posted 18 months ago, Schoonover had a hair-brained scheme to save costs by firing his top 3,400 sales people. They took their customers to the competition and Circuit City's revenues and profits tumbled. Since that day in late March 2007, Schoonover's less than bright strategy helped take its stock from $18.53 to $1.70.

Schoonover's management move proved to be an excellent case study in what not to do. One of the most fundamental management concepts is that if you have good employees and treat them well, they will provide better service to your customers. And the happy customers will keep coming back. Conversely, if you treat employees badly, they will treat customers with contempt and you'll have to spend lots of money on marketing to bring in new customers who will just up and leave after their first unpleasant experience.

In January I received an unsubstantiated -- and ultimately false -- rumor that Schoonover was about to be replaced. What is so striking to me is that Schoonover got paid to make such an unprofitable move and then stuck around so long to oversee the resulting damage. Circuit City's new CEO, James Marcum, told BusinessWeek: "We believe that by fine-tuning our focus and strategies we will be able to leverage this history and build a stronger future for the company."

We'll see how well "leveraging this history" will work.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Circuit City securities.

Based on the company's performance, the head of Circuit City (NYSE: CC) should have left a year ago. Instead, he left yesterday and it will not help the retailer one little bit.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the company's board forced out Philip J. Schoonover, who served as chairman, president and chief executive officer. He had been around for four years and during that time, earnings had gotten worse. Perhaps that was not his fault.

Circuit City may simply be too small to compete with operations like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). It does not have their number of stores or their balance sheets to readily add new locations.

Circuit City tried to find a buyer but had no luck. That is hardly Schoonover's fault. No one wants a third-tier electronics retailer that is losing money. The company's shares are at $1.70, down from a 52-week high of $9.65. If Circuit City cannot find at buyer at that price, it is not going to be sold.

CC can put a chimp or the Queen of England into the top job; it will not matter. The company is beyond saving. Call the Chapter 11 lawyers.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

CNBC quotes presidential candidate Senator John McCain as suggesting that executives at companies receiving federal bailouts should not be allowed to receive more than $400,000 per year in pay -- the top salary for a federal employee.

That's an amazingly populist suggestion for a Republican and the commentators are maligning it, not entirely wrongly. After all, they say, given Wall Street's culture of unjustifiably large pay packages, what kind of talent could be attracted with $400,000?

One commentator worried -- with a straight face -- that if pay packages fell that low, some young people could become doctors instead of investment bankers! Oh no, not that!

McCain's comments were vague -- what companies would be affected? And for how long? -- and it's extremely doubtful that any pay cuts that draconian will ever come to fruition. But I think that McCain is on the right track: if companies have tens of millions to pay in bonuses, they shouldn't need taxpayer cash.

Some of you will remember this story from last November when the door to our current world-wide financial industry meltdown was just beginning to crack open. At that time, we were facing tens of billions of dollars in losses and write-downs, but now we have witnessed hundreds of billions of dollars of the same and the government is telling us that it will take another $700 billion to shore up the industry.

Naturally, most of the people that got us into this mess are receiving golden parachutes as they abandon or are ejected from their burning empires. President Bush has been in over his head for years and turned a blind eye, (I think blind in both eyes) see: The George W. Bush economic plan? The shame does not end with Bush, though he has shown no leadership on the subject.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said of the recent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout, "Americans deserve to know if this proposal will help keep mortgages affordable, stabilize the markets and protect taxpayer interests."

Where were Bush and Dodd when the foundation for this crises was being developed See: SEC opens the gates and the world drowns.

The entire political system is jam-packed with conflicts of interest. Here are Senators Dodd's contributors by firm and industry as reported by OpenSecrets.org:

• Top 5 Contributors, 2003-2008: Citigroup Inc. $310,294, SAC Capital Partners $282,000, United Technologies $263,400, American International Group 224,678, Bear Stearns $205,600.
• Top 5 Industries, 2003-2008: Securities & Investment $,245,796; Lawyer/Law Firms 1,976, 063; Insurance $1,416,972; Real Estate $1,262,791; Commercial Banks $850, 544.