Study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank Execs

AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs

Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.

The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.

Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.

The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-21-08-26-26

Click to expand...

I want to kow how small businesses are supposed to compete or even be viable in a business environment like this. These Jerks "Crash and Burn" the world's economy and are rewarded for it.

We miss a payment and they come take our business and home

Yeah, nice, isn't it.
A guy is diligent in paying his bills on time, house, c-card and such but the institutions your making payments to get a bailout because of all the people that got suckered into the arm's or interest only payments. So, in the end, you will end up paying twice for everything.
Nice
Dave

Makes you wonder why people are bitchin'!!!
Frankly, I have been against the bailout in the first place.
One, the supposed reason is that you want Banks to lend money...
My question: If they did NOT lend money, then how the hell are they going to make money??? Isn't that their ( well supposed to be ) primary source of income????
Two: With absolutely no strings attached the bailout money can be used for just about anything. Apparently I thought right as a good number of them started using it to fund buyouts of other banks.


Interestingly, if I screw up I too will get a bailout. I will get it from my bank.
Except they will take my machines, will take my building and will take everything else. Will do with it whatever they think is best, in the meantime I'll end up on the streets with a handfull of sand to pound into the appropriate place.

I say that with the 700B bailout money we should have included buckets of sand too....

Most of the mail to Congress was against the Bail Outs.

What's really ironic is that the Treasury was supposed to buy "toxic debt". What happened instead was that Paulson elected to just spread money around. That "Toxic Debt" is still out there - I wish that it could be broken into shares and handed out to Bank Execs. Here's your lump of coal, Jr.

In Nicaragua when the Sandinistas went out of power they decided to enrich themselves. They gave the leadership shares in State Industries. The commoners called it "La Pinata", or "The Pinata" for the children's game where gifts fall upon the lucky winner who hits the doll filled with them.

Sounds like America had a "La Pinata"...

Gene

At other times in history, a revolt has been started
over less.........maybe it's coming.

Seems like some poor hard luck SOB that's been cleaned out by one of these banks collecting on a default would be thinking about going after some of these people.....that would be "unfortunate"....

Sure causes bad feelings and angry thoughts........

Edit: Doesn't all this mess seem to be snowballing? Every month another high profile politician or financial type gets indited. Washington and corporate America has their own "crook of the month" club.
Are we in a spiral here that's picking up momentum?? Even 5 years ago, just ONE of the recent 'major events' would have been the one that happened that year. Now they seem to be happening every 1-2- months apart.....

I would imagine that these lending institutions are not going to lend anymore than they are forced to.
I can see them taking "their" money and investing it where they can make some money on it- probably at some offshore "Bank". If it was me in the position of being one of those big institutions, as soon as someone (US Govt.) replenished my cash reserves that I had lost giving loans, that would be the last time that stuff seen the light of day until the account I placed it in didn't pay as much interest as some other bank and off it would go to that bank.
1) Banks are not going to lend, unless they are in a win-win situation.
2) If they have to loan, they'll make sure they are loaning to someone who doesn't really need the loan- the person's wealthy enough to buy the item outright and are just taking out a loan to write the interest off their taxes.
3) Majority of individuals are scared for their job (if they have one) and the smart ones won't go out on a limb and make any major purchases requiring a loan.
4) Cash is king- until they print too much of it.
5) They can't lower that prime interest rate- or whatever they call it- too much more cause they're under 1 percent as it is. Wall Street knows that and this is why the stock market doesn't care what they do with it. It's too late as far as W/S cares.
6) The conservatives have manipulated our economy to the brink of disaster. Wages and jobs for the masses are waning.

I don't see any good coming from a loan to the car companies. That pittance can't get them retooled to produce a car to compete with non-Detroit cars. The money will hopefully not go to bail out management and to pay dividends on stock, but to pay off suppliers and those others that are owed. I think that would be the best bang for the buck.
So, Detroit can't retool. Suppliers can't make and sell parts. The public lost their jobs to outsourcing and so they keep driving their old car- cause they don't want to buy a new one. Big 3 can't lower their costs enough to entice anyone to even try to buy a car. It is a viscious circle. It has been caused, in my opinion, by greed in the financial sector with blame shared by the real estate sales community. "Hey- buy this house at this low ARM rate and flip it after a couple of years and get another loan and do the same thing again. You will make money hand over fist."
Too many trying to make money without making a product. It's just money changers in action.

GeneH' said:

That "Toxic Debt" is still out there - I wish that it could be broken into shares and handed out to Bank Execs. Here's your lump of coal, Jr.


Gene

Click to expand...

Gene,

You think like the swiss. Credit Suisse's bonus pool for it's investment bankers this year is primarily shares in a fund of "toxic assets" . It will be interesting to see how well the investment bankers like getting the swill they were trying to sell to others.

"ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) will link payouts for its top investment bankers to illiquid assets in an innovative new bonus system that may set an example for others in the industry.

The new system will cut the bank's risk exposure by linking bonus payouts for 2,000 investment bankers to some $5 billion in illiquid and often opaque assets, which have tumbled in value and been blamed for deepening the credit crisis.

The plan -- which links the bonus of bankers to the risks of the assets and takes risky assets off the balance sheet -- comes amidst fierce criticism that bonus systems were rewarding bankers for taking on irresponsible risks.

"While the solution we have come up with may not be ideal for everyone, we believe it strikes the appropriate balance among the interests of our employees, shareholders and regulators and helps position us well for 2009," a memo from CEO Brady Dougan and investment bank boss Paul Calello said.

Credit Suisse appears to be the first to use tarnished assets to pay employees, linking their rewards to the performance of risky assets they sell to investors.

The memo, seen by Reuters, said investment bank managing directors and directors will receive 70-80 percent of their deferred equity compensation in so-called partner asset facility (PAF) units that "will be linked to the performance of a pool of illiquid assets."

Here is the full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BH5MT20081218

AndyF said:

Gene,

You think like the swiss. Here is the full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4BH5MT20081218

Click to expand...

To give credit where credit is due; I read about this a few days or so ago. I think it's completely reasonable to let these boys and girls take their own "debt" as a reward.

I'm not a "pro-Rich" guy, I'm a fair minded guy.

Gene

paulson/bernanke/bush's deal is that they wanted to spread public money into private hands, namely those of their friends. this has been the stated goal of the republican party since before the election of george bush. you reap what you sow. don't vote for crooks just because they promise you lower taxes and safety from terrorists next time.

I find it a hoot that many of the more conservative republican types are surprised and/or appalled at the behavior of their party. They said they were going to do this all along. in fact they have been doing this throughout the whole iraq/afghanistan debacle, giving free public money to their friends for services, whether rendered or not. like our dear George Matovich has told you guys over and over, and over again, not a one of you is important or rich enough to feed at the trough with bush's buddies. get over it. or maybe appologize to the rest of us for voting that trash into office.

It is still going on, dividing those of us who have some, and those of us who have not much, and those of us with nothing, so we won't notice the scam being perpetrated on us by the few who have everything. That's how we got black slavery in america in the early 1600's, and that's how they have been working all of us over in various ways ever since. give a little notice and priviledge to some of your underlings, give them power and wealth above the least of them so that they feel superior to something, and NEVER EVER let any of them near the pie, let alone have a piece of it.

anchorman said:

give a little notice and priviledge to some of your underlings

Click to expand...

You mean like giving some working people the right to strike or to skew the playing field against business people with "unfair labor" laws?

How about "Affirmative Action" or "hate crime" legislation - for some folks and not for others?


One of the most Conservative Republicans out there is Ron Paul. He voted against the Chrysler Bailout in 1980, was against a lot of Pork, was against the Iraq invasion and when he ran for President got this kind of treatment...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23UXUTUrQIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlacFmRGPgI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEcUTYbuDvY

Gene

Funny though how there was never any oversight appointed for either the AIG or the big bailout.Seems like it's just one last hoorah of looting this country before the administration changes hands.

sorry, gene,

this is about more than any of the percieved slights that you are feeling. this is about a wholesale giveaway of trillions of dollars to a very small number of bad actors (I'd say less than a thousand from the look of it), who happen to be buddies with bush/bernanke/paulson, et al. They let you worry about affirmative action, while they take all of the real action for themselves. enjoy!

Metal Slave said:

Funny though how there was never any oversight appointed for either the AIG or the big bailout.Seems like it's just one last hoorah of looting this country before the administration changes hands.

Click to expand...

that's exactly what I was talking about. but what is crazy is that there are so many who "never saw it coming" even though the repubs have been talking about doing this for years.

anchorman said:

paulson/bernanke/bush's deal is that they wanted to spread public money into private hands, namely those of their friends. this has been the stated goal of the republican party since before the election of george bush. you reap what you sow. don't vote for crooks just because they promise you lower taxes and safety from terrorists next time..

Click to expand...

There were other reasons, Jon. For example, eight years of this kind of crap...

"I can't worry about every under capitalized business" -- Hillary Clinton, testyfing before congress on the effects of Nationalized Health Care.

"I'll tell you the whole story about that budget. Probably there are people in this room still mad at me at that budget because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you to know that I think I raised them too much, too" -- Bill Clinton 1995

"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people" -- Bill Clinton 1993 on MTV

"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans" -- Bill Clinton in 1993 from USA Today

You know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say." -- Bill Clinton in 1993, Philadelphia

"Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." —James Carville, after Paula Jones made a sexual harassment allegation against Bill Clinton

"The Internal Combustion Engine is the greatest threat to Civilization" - Al Gore, "Earth in the Balance".

Then we have these goodies from Youtube...

Gun control...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ9VRrfzIKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBJaAioXE0

Be fair, Jon, after eight years of the above non-sense Bush could have won the election. Running John 'Do you know who I am?' Kerry against in 2004 was not the smartest idea either.

Had the DNC picked someone with two brain cells to rub together they might have won in 2000 and 2004, but instead.... we got the Decider.

Now we have a man who cannot function without a teleprompter and a Congress which thinks it has a "mandate". Both have this delusion that it's 1933 and Happy Days are here again. Except that today we have an Internet... ain't gonna be slapping no gag on Reverend Billy Sunday this time, Jon.

Obama had his first scandal, that of Blojgovitch, and he isn't even inaugurated. He's already "cleared" Rahm Emmanuel and he has no authority whatsoever to clear anyone of anything.

Gene

anchorman said:

that's exactly what I was talking about. but what is crazy is that there are so many who "never saw it coming" even though the repubs have been talking about doing this for years.

Click to expand...

Okay, Jon, all kidding and sarcasm aside.... I'd like some sources for that remark, that they "talked about doing it for years".

All I ever saw the Republicans do is build bridges to nowhere and buy votes with no child's behind left alone and the drug industry subsidy bill.

Gene

every time they talked about privatizing government, that is what they meant. taking your tax dollars and putting them into the pockets of their friends. look it up yourself. it's not like it's a big secret or anything. if it was to encourage competition and help get more effective lower cost services, we wouldn't have been giving no bid contracts throughout the last 6+ years to halliburton, et. al. they wouldn't have argued against having 100% transparency with the bank bailout if the money was actually going toward fixing the economy. they privatized and bastardized the military so that they could hire guys like blackwater to do the same jobs for more money. tell us how that isn't an obvious money grab? hire halliburton to provide food for the troops @ $32/day (or was it per meal?) instead of put guys on KP? please tell me what that is supposed to be if not a money grab? I can eat steak three times a day for less than that.

blantant no-bid giveaways are no way to reduce gov't waste. you then have gov't and private sectorwaste, costing much more than the initial gov't waste did.

GeneH' said:

There were other reasons, Jon. For example, eight years of this kind of crap...

"I can't worry about every under capitalized business" -- Hillary Clinton, testyfing before congress on the effects of Nationalized Health Care.

"I'll tell you the whole story about that budget. Probably there are people in this room still mad at me at that budget because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you to know that I think I raised them too much, too" -- Bill Clinton 1995

"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people" -- Bill Clinton 1993 on MTV

"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans" -- Bill Clinton in 1993 from USA Today

You know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say." -- Bill Clinton in 1993, Philadelphia

"Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." —James Carville, after Paula Jones made a sexual harassment allegation against Bill Clinton

"The Internal Combustion Engine is the greatest threat to Civilization" - Al Gore, "Earth in the Balance".

Then we have these goodies from Youtube...

Gun control...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ9VRrfzIKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBJaAioXE0

Be fair, Jon, after eight years of the above non-sense Bush could have won the election. Running John 'Do you know who I am?' Kerry against in 2004 was not the smartest idea either.

Had the DNC picked someone with two brain cells to rub together they might have won in 2000 and 2004, but instead.... we got the Decider.

Now we have a man who cannot function without a teleprompter and a Congress which thinks it has a "mandate". Both have this delusion that it's 1933 and Happy Days are here again. Except that today we have an Internet... ain't gonna be slapping no gag on Reverend Billy Sunday this time, Jon.

Obama had his first scandal, that of Blojgovitch, and he isn't even inaugurated. He's already "cleared" Rahm Emmanuel and he has no authority whatsoever to clear anyone of anything.

Gene

Click to expand...

Once again all GeneH can do is submit diatribe and a bunch of patiently false and therefore slanderous “quotes”.

Where is the moderator?

Dr Stan said:

Once again all GeneH can do is submit diatribe and a bunch of patiently false and therefore slanderous “quotes”.

Where is the moderator?

Click to expand...

regardless of whether they are false or not, they have nothing to do with the fact that the repubs said they were going to privatize and shrink gov't, which they did. They did this by giveaways to their buddies. the number of gov't workers may not have gone up under this scheme as much as it might have otherwise, but gov't expendatures have definitely not fallen as "predicted".

but it's also typical gene argument. when all else fails, blame the clintons. bastards that they may be, they are not directly responsible for the whole Bush privitazation kick, although I doubt they are totally innocent, either.

anchorman said:

regardless of whether they are false or not, they have nothing to do with the fact that the repubs said they were going to privatize and shrink gov't, which they did. They did this by giveaways to their buddies. the number of gov't workers may not have gone up under this scheme as much as it might have otherwise, but gov't expendatures have definitely not fallen as "predicted".

but it's also typical gene argument. when all else fails, blame the clintons. bastards that they may be, they are not directly responsible for the whole Bush privitazation kick, although I doubt they are totally innocent, either.

Click to expand...

Anchorman,

You're absolutely correct. He's just like Rush, only with a much much smaller paycheck.

Stan

Yep

dkmc said:

At other times in history, a revolt has been started
over less.........maybe it's coming.

Seems like some poor hard luck SOB that's been cleaned out by one of these banks collecting on a default would be thinking about going after some of these people.....that would be "unfortunate"....

Sure causes bad feelings and angry thoughts........

Edit: Doesn't all this mess seem to be snowballing? Every month another high profile politician or financial type gets indited. Washington and corporate America has their own "crook of the month" club.
Are we in a spiral here that's picking up momentum?? Even 5 years ago, just ONE of the recent 'major events' would have been the one that happened that year. Now they seem to be happening every 1-2- months apart.....

Click to expand...

And unfortunately the poor SOB who rightfully goes after the thieves who ruined his life will be shot on sight. Then the media will not make him look like a person who has been financially abused and ripped off, it will portray him as a disgruntled person with serious personality defects --- VERY SAD but true --- the organized thieves always win.

The only type of revolt that might even stand a chance is a peaceful protest with MASSIVE, HUGE, MASSIVE participation and support. Really don't think that will happen with the current - ME, I, MINE population. There are still too many who people are comfortable and they will never recognize the collective need --- But It will come ---- I'll participate in one of those VERY gladly. Small numbers of people or single people are made to look as something is wrong with them. VERY SAD