Countrywide executives get retention bonuses -- Will the looting ever end?

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) has decided to give retention bonuses to some of its top executives to keep them at the company until its acquisition by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is consummated.

For instance, executive managing director Ranjit Kripalani will get $2.5 million if he stays through March 15th.

Wow. A $2.5 million bonus to stay and do the job he is already handsomely compensated for doing for less than two more months. Nice work if you can get it! And given the company's horrifically bad performance, I doubt that Kripalani is inundated with job offers. At least I hope he isn't.

True: Retention bonuses aren't uncommon when companies are being acquired after periods of turbulence, but this is just more excessive compensation at a company that is an absolute parody of good corporate governance. A $2.5 million retention bonus for Kripalani is like paying the captain of the Titanic a a couple million bucks to stay on the ship after he slams it into an iceberg. If these Countrywide executives had any sense of decency, they'd stay on board to help BofA clean up the mess they left because it's the right thing to do. But this is Countrywide Financial, after all...

More exciting news on the Countrywide front: If the deal falls through, Countrywide could have to pay Bank of America $160 million "under specified circumstances."