The Inimitable Tiff

TrimTabs Investment Research reported that selling by corporate insiders in August has surged to $6.1 billion, the highest amount since May 2008. The ratio of insider selling to insider buying hit 30.6, the highest level since TrimTabs began tracking the data in 2004. (prnewswire)

The report’s author, Jack T. Ciesielski, well known for digging into companies’ financial figures in his research publication, the Analyst’s Accounting Observer, found that the combined fair value of restricted stock and options issued as executive compensation during 2008 was $44.5 billion. Those same companies put $39.5 billion toward employee pensions.

Looks like rich folks are pulling money out of the current system as fast as they can. I’d love to see geographic distribution of both insider trading and exec compensation payouts overlaid on recession impact. @jimray?