Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron, the ousted chiefs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could collect as much as $24 million in exit pay (up to $9.3 million for Mr. Mudd and at least $14.1 million for Mr. Syron) unless a federal regulator sensibly says no.

Neither should be rewarded any more than they already have been for their failures.

This is the same Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron who presided over the near total wipeout of Fannie and Freddie's shareholders and whose mismanagement of the mortgage-finance companies has led to what could become the biggest federal bailout in American history.

The severance would come on top of $12.4 million in salary, bonuses and stock-option profits that Mr. Mudd has taken home since becoming Fannie's chief executive in 2004, according to Equilar research. Mr. Syron also made out big, collecting $17.1 million since he took charge of Freddie in 2003.

As of late Wednesday, the regulator, James Lockhart of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, had not yet decided on the payments.

The two men do not bear sole responsibility for the costly demise of Fannie and Freddie. Widespread regulatory failure allowed the housing bubble to inflate. And Congress also failed in its duty to oversee the companies.

But shared blame is still blame. And as the chief executives, Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron are much to blame.

We don't minimize the difficulty of their jobs: they had to make profits for their shareholders while also serving the public by providing a steady stream of funds to expand home ownership.

They failed to achieve any prudent balance. Instead, they took risks that boosted near-term profits while feeding the housing bubble that has now burst with such dire consequences for so many Americans.
(NYT)