Bloomberg Defends A.I.G. Bonus Recipients

It is tough being an executive at A.I.G. these days. Everyone out there loathes you, except for Rush Limbaugh but who wants that brand of compassion? What about billionaire Michael Bloomberg though? The media mogul turned mayor is still much more popular than Limbaugh (though his poll numbers have fallen considerably since he passed the term limits extension bill) and is currently C.E.O. of the city that A.I.G. has gotten away with so much in. Well anyway, screw those millionaire executives, why would Bloomberg come to the defense of these economy-wrecking scourges of capitalism?

From The Daily Politics:

Mayor Bloomberg today came to the defense of the public enemy du jour - the bailout cash bonus recipients - saying he disagrees with the push to publicize the names of financial sector executives who received taxpayer-funded salary sweeteners.

"Generally speaking, if you work in the private sector, I don't think your salaries and bonuses should be in the public domain," the mayor said during a Q&A with reporters, including the DN's Kate Lucadamo, that followed his visit to a retraining session employees of Rucci Oil Company in Port Richmond, Staten Island, where he was highlighting the city's efforts to help small businesses.

"If you are the heads of companies, there are laws that the top 10 executives or whatever have to be in the annual report and that is fine. The stockholders have a right to know but as you go down, people want to have their privacy. I don't think you'd wanting somebody snooping around in your private life."

This of course is in response to Attorney General Cuomo's successful court action to make the executives' names public. What Bloomberg fails to recognize is that A.I.G. is no longer a private company. If they were, they'd have either not gotten themselves into this mess or if we had free markets, they'd be a part of economic history. Now they belong (80% of the company give or take) to the American taxpayer and if we want to see their records, we better damn well have access. If they want our money, they'll learn how to be accountable, even if Congress doesn't is doing this primarily for grandstanding-purposes only.

Unfortunately, Bloomberg doesn't seem to get that, nor the animosity that most New Yorkers and Americans as a whole have towards these greedy schmucks. Perhaps in the rarified air that Mike breathes it is no big deal that the rich make themselves richer at the taxpayers' expense, but down here on Earth it is a tremendous problem that the public wants rectified.

Cenk Uyugr Rips Rush For Being An AIG Apologist

It isn't news that Rush Limbaugh is a scumbag, but the audacity he has to defend the bonuses given to A.I.G.'s already-wealthy traders who destroyed their company is just beyond ridiculousness. Cenk rightly calls him on it:

Bank Of America Is Right

I wholeheartedly agree with the lawyers representing one of the biggest banks in America. Disclosing the bonuses of Merrill Lynch employees preceding BoA's acquisition will cause "grave and irreparable harm" if the information gets out to the public.

Guess what?

I can't wait to see all of those details disclosed, down to the very last penny.

Does that mean Bank of America will fail? No, I doubt that will happen at this date, the government Fed has invested too much money in them (like they have in AIG) to let the megalithic bank go down in flames.

The "harm" will come in other ways though. With Cuomo's help as New York's Attorney General, the insatiable and devastating greed of these Wall Street houses will continue to be in the news. While Main Street suffers, those living on it will be able to see the wealthy protest having their dirty laundry aired out in public. It will harm their reputations and deservedly so.

Whatever these people are guilty of, the more that we know about it, the better we'll be in the long run. Unless we get full accountability then nothing systemic will change. Without justice, there will just be another bubble down the line and this catastrophic economic environment will be recreated again.

There was a few minutes dedicated to this issue on Bill Maher's show last night. One of the panelists, I believe the CNBC anchor, was saying that the rich have suffered, with trillions in assets having vanished over the last few months. Maher, ever the brilliant debater, countered with the fact that the rich are not suffering, it is their bank statements that are hurting. Other Americans, the ones that are foregoing three meals a day to make ends meet, those are the people that are truly suffering in this fiscal crisis.

We need to get our priorities straight in this country. I think President Obama is trying to guide us out of the greed and self-serving behavior of the last eight thirty years since we heard how greed is good under Reagan. Though as Obama said, it can't be done by him alone. So by exposing these titans of Wall Street who pillaged their companies before they collapsed, we are serving the greater good for a change. And if that causes these people grave and irreperable harm....well, they did it to themselves.

The Spoils Go To The Most Prolific Campaign Ever

It has been over a week since Barack Obama was elected President and already there is a mad rush for jobs in the Administration over at change.gov. When you win the Presidency, plenty of positions open up in the new White House for the party faithful to apply to and receive if their credentials stack up against the challenge. However, when you are Barack Obama and have just completed the best campaign for President ever with tons of cash left over, there's cash and prizes for those that worked for the Obama operation.

From The NY Daily News:

Long-suffering political footsoldiers who toiled tirelessly, at least since September, to put Obama in the White House recently learned they will be getting extra paychecks worth a month's salary, the Daily News has learned.

And boy, are they grateful.

"I think it's a very nice gesture for people who slaved away and sacrificed for the past year," said one pleased ex-staffer.

"It was totally unexpected, and you can't believe how helpful this is with the holidays coming," the lower-level worker said. "A lot of people thought they were going to be broke and would have to try to find a job in this rotten economy. It's a huge help."

In addition to the cold cash, staffers also have the option of keeping their campaign-issued computers and BlackBerrys - but must pay income tax on the hardware if they do.

All's fair with income tax, this side is definitely going to start by respecting the rule of law. Seriously though, this is a fantastic thing for Obama to do for his campaign army. It is nothing short of grueling to be a campaign staffer and often do a lot for very little in return (sans the changing our country for the better part). Now this is set of bonuses I can definitely get behind, unlike the schmucks in the financial district who are still looking forward to their obscene benefits next month. Hopefully that'll change once the O man gets to work.

Your Money Going To Enlarge Wall St. Bonuses

The ridiculousness of the collusion between Washington and Wall Street knows no end. Once again, we see the lax regulation and oversight of our government helping those that need no extra help while the rest of us suffer. If a regular person lost all their money, Congress would never give them billions to replace that loss and allow them to receive an additional bonus. Yet come Christmastime, Wall Street executives are going to see larger bonus checks than they thought they'd get before the government bailed them out.

From Time:

Uncle Sam has a new name on Wall Street — Sugar Daddy. Bonuses for investment bankers and traders are projected to fall by 40% this year. But analysts, compensation consultants and recruiters say the drop would be much more severe, perhaps as much as 70%, had it not been for the government's efforts to prop up the financial firms. "Year-end pay on Wall Street will be higher than it would have been had it not been for the government and mergers," says Alan Johnson, a leading compensation consultant. "You would expect it to be down much more."

Johnson predicts the average managing director at an investment bank, a title typically earned around eight years on the job, will receive a bonus of $625,000. That's down from nearly $1.1 million last year, but it is still 15 times the income of the average American household. Top bankers could receive as much as $1 million. Even a bond trader just out of business school could see his or her bank account enriched by as much as $170,000 this Christmas. "The firms have had an extremely difficult year," says Joan Zimmerman, a Wall Street career coach. "But they can't afford to lose talent either."

While the government rescue limits the salaries of five top executives of each of the participating financial firms, Congress did nothing to restrict Wall Street firms from using taxpayer funds to boost the compensation of rank and file investment bankers. "Some people might argue that these bankers should not be penalized if they weren't personally involved in the risky mortgage-backed securities," says Sarah Anderson, project director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank in Washington. "My response is that average taxpayer wasn't either, but she is being asked to take a hit."

We, the average taxpayer, are being repeatedly hit in the gut, kicked in the shin and slapped across the face. In a just world, these investment bankers who supposedly have "talent" would be paying back what they lost for their company and ultimately for our economy. People are suffering out there, losing their homes, their cars, their credit...and these wealthy few are still looking forward to six-figure bonuses. Seriously, wtf? W. T. F!!!

How is this fair? Someone want to explain this to me?

Lehman Bros. Gives One Last F.U. To Its Employees And The Rest Of Us

Last week Lehman Brothers started off the unbelievable financial action by declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The gigantic swings in the market haven't stopped since while other monolithic companies teetered on the brink of collapse. Now the Congress is considering a $700 Billion dollar package to save the market from the greed and carelessness within itself. You would think that while the financial sector is trying to pull one over us that they'd be on good behavior, at least until they get their money.

You thought wrong:

Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

The revelation sparked fury among the workers' former colleagues, Lehman's 5,000 staff based in London, who currently have no idea how long they will go on receiving even their basic salaries, let alone any bonus payments. It also prompted a renewed backlash over the compensation culture in global finance, with critics claiming that many bankers receive pay and rewards that bore no relation to the job they had done.

A spokesman for Barclays said the $2.5bn bonus pool in New York had been set aside before Lehman Brothers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States a week ago. Barclays has agreed that the fund should continue to be ring-fenced now it has taken control of Lehman's US business, a deal agreed by American bankruptcy courts over the weekend.

Set aside? Set aside??? If I were employed by Lehman in Europe I would be seething at this news, and I'm sure many are. It just goes to show that these "captains of industry" have no concept of right and wrong and that any money we as taxpayers give them will be wasted away into the abyss of their cold, greedy hearts just as the bad loans were given out over the past few years. The fact that Barclays excuses this behavior is ridiculous.

Conservatives may argue that it is up to the shareholders to allocate $2.5 Billion dollar bonuses to faltering companies, but it isn't the shareholders propping up this faltering system. The people with their backs breaking on this deal includes all of us that mail checks to the I.R.S. every year. Yet these bastards do not even want us to see a return on this escapade in the event that the bailout works.