Nearly four months after being pushed out as CEO, former General Motors head honcho Richard Wagoner is still officially an employee of the company. The reason? The company is still trying to figure out how much it has to give him to go away and keep his mouth shut.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "GM is keeping Mr. Wagoner on staff -- albeit only technically -- as the government decides on pay and benefit criteria for the company's top officers, obligations that will be the responsibility of the new GM once it emerges from bankruptcy protection, company spokeswoman Julie Gibson said."

Wagoner could be eligible for pension benefits valued at around $20 million, but GM and the United States government have concluded that that's simply too much to pay someone for destroying a company.

It's not yet clear how much Wagoner will end up settling for but one thing is certain: It will be far, far more than he would receive in any merit-based system.

If Richard Wagoner gets a Greyhound bus ticket to haul himself back to Delaware, it will be way, way too much.

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