Unbelievable executive payout in California

Title: Anthem, WellPoint resist $400 million payment
Source: Indianapolis Star
Date: July 3, 2004

This is a complex article to read because there are several threads in it, but this part of the article is fascinating: California is balking at a merger between two large healthcare companies because of the executive payout triggered by the merger. From the article:

McCarty said any deal Anthem and WellPoint make to... exclude California policyholders from paying for $147 million to $356 million in compensation due WellPoint executives could amount to a "material change" in the merger conditions that Indiana and other states have approved or reviewed.

Essentially, California is saying, "we do not want our policyholders having to pay this outrageous amount of money to these executives for, essentially, doing nothing."

This is exactly the position every state, and every citizen, should take to the concentration of wealth occurring today. These massive payouts are theft. Executives in this case are stealing hundreds of millions of dollars. This form of theft occurs throughout the American economy. See, for example, this post on Harvard.