Let Me See If I Understand

Let me see if I understand this.

Your company loses BILLIONS of dollars and you take money from the government to bail your behind out of a jam. To get around bonus limits, you raise the pay of some employees, outside of "normal" pay period evaluation?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. is increasing base salaries for many of its employees -- reportedly by as much as 50 percent for some workers -- as it restructures its compensation program amid new restrictions on bonus payments.

The increased salaries will offset lower bonuses, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public. The higher salaries are not the equivalent of annual raises, the person added.

Citi faces restrictions on bonuses as part of a new government compensation oversight plan because the bank received bailout funds from the Treasury Department.

By shifting the mix in compensation packages, it will allow Citi to pay most employees as much as they received in 2008 while adhering to bonus caps.

"Citi continues to examine ways to ensure its employee compensation practices are competitive in this very challenging market environment," Citi said in a statement Wednesday. "Any salary adjustments are not intended to increase total annual compensation, rather to adjust the balance between fixed and variable compensation."

You want to "retain good workers" but you lost about $30 billion dollars over the past year and a half?

And where are our, being the U.S. government, dividends since you can afford this type of raise?