From the "If you're so rich, why aren't you smart?" Department

So, the Merrill Lynch CEO said "Nothing Happened In The World Or The Economy" That Would Justify Suspending Bonuses.
Rule #1 of a TV weather forecaster is to look out the window before you go on the air. Don't say that it's sunny if it's not. So, too, CEOs need to read the newspapers before explaining why they needed to pay big bonuses to their key people because otherwise those key people would leave the company.
Hint: if your company is losing billions of dollars and you need billions from the gummint to get you through the day, your smart people are doing it wrong.