don't buy the stock if you don't want to pay him
One of the problems is deferred compensation in the form of stock options. Options are only "in the money" when the price increases from the date of grant. These options ore good for multiple years then expire.
This leads to the recurring phenomenon that the CEO makes lots of moves to increase the business, then cashes in when these initiatives are winding down (i.e. stock prices increase slows or reverses).
It creates horroble optics but is unlikely to change. What makes it worse is when the board fires the CEO for the price slowdown and then he gets a big severance package AND has to cash in all his options.
I'm concerned that the gov't is going to force me to buy the stock.
the plan i've heard was the government is going to buy a new class of preferred stock paying 10% divs just to give the companies some cash. not exactly a tax payer bailout
if its the debt you are worried about, anyone who has bought a home in t he last 40 years has benefitted from the implied bailout via lower interest rates