more importantly let's don't let the federal everman encroached in the business anymore than it already has. >> the gentleman from california for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to begin by thanking you for facilitating this hearing this morning. executive compensation has been a confiscated and reoccurring issue, and our discussion on financial reform. as you yourself have mentioned, compensation that promotes excessive risk is a systemic concern. to that end, what occurs in financial centers such as manhattan and charlotte affects everyone across the country, including residents from my district in california. some of the compensation packages that were lavished on topics that kids are mind-boggling. former executives such as merrill lynch's john day or countrywide angela mazzella were collecting salaries and notices into the multimillions while running their companies into the ground. to the extent these ceos and others were incentivized to produce short-term profits, they were equally incentivized to flood the market with predatory loan products such as subprim