Fury at $2.5bn Lehman bonus

Fury at $2.5bn Lehman bonus

business.timesonline.co.uk

STAFF at Lehman’s New York office who helped to cause the world’s biggest corporate bankruptcy are to share in a $2.5 billion bonanza.

The bonus, which has been described by London staff as a “scandal” has been pledged by Barclays Capital, the British-based bank that last week acquired Lehman’s American operation and took on 10,000 staff.

The $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) pot, which has been ring-fenced as part of the acquisition, has caused huge resentment among the 5,000 staff in the firm’s European and Middle Eastern operations who are not guaranteed to be paid after this month. There are, however, hopes that half the jobs in Lehman’s Canary Wharf office could be saved today by either Barclays or Nomura. Bids are being submitted for its UK equities and investment-banking business.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy document filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc says that Barclays has identified eight individuals out of the New York staff of 10,000 who are vital to make the deal succeed and a further 200 who are identified as “key”. It is thought that these eight directors will be locked into two-year contracts worth between $10m and $25m a year.

(visit the link for the full news article)

On some levels this makes sense, but on others, it is a scandal that those who presided over the collapse should now rake in huge new deals and bonuses, whilst the ordinary worker is out on the proverbial.

Isn't anyone else sick of this fatcat behaviour which ytreats the rest of the world with contempt?

Are these people worth even employing after they made such a mess of it in the first place?

business.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

In no way is it a good thing, you gotta let the bubble burst

Why wouldn't they get their bonus, they earned it!

The average blue collar worker just doesn't have the proper mindset to understand all the financial babble over this. These people worked hard and now the company wants to reward them. I see no problem here.

reply to post by hinky


This is how corporate America works. The top people always get money for leading the company, even if it is down the tubes.

It is a disgrace, paid for a job done poorly.

reply to post by budski


Its a scandal in the UK how about here in the US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That money is coming from the pockets of the American tax payer as Paulson and Bernanke wants our money to be use for the banking institutions from foreign countries that are holding US bad debt.

They bought into the Lehman bros and they also inherited the debt.

Is very nice to see how our tax payer is going to go into and remember this will be the actions that you get to know, if the fed get away with their totalitarian power we are not going to even know half of the story and the dirty and corrupted deals.

Where is the tax payer bonus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been secretly wondering all through this debacle who is getting rich out of this because every man made disaster has at its a core a bunch of dirty little rich men.

I must admit I could not see who would benefit from this - until now!

Great find OP, now let the digging begin - time to find out who orchestrated this financial mess.

Its clearly wrong but this always happens.
The top guys on a sinking ship still get there bonus's whether they win or lose.
At least they are not being laid off and still getting bonus's.
Like many others throughout history.
Barclay's is actually hiring them.
They still have to work for it.

Originally posted by hinky
Why wouldn't they get their bonus, they earned it!

The average blue collar worker just doesn't have the proper mindset to understand all the financial babble over this. These people worked hard and now the company wants to reward them. I see no problem here.

They earned it by working hard? By running the company and the industry into the ground? What a joke!

This is exactly whats wrong with our country, the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor.

Originally posted by hinky
Why wouldn't they get their bonus, they earned it!

The average blue collar worker just doesn't have the proper mindset to understand all the financial babble over this. These people worked hard and now the company wants to reward them. I see no problem here.

Are you f'ing kidding me? You are being sarcastic here, right? If not then you have just displayed your complete ignorance of WHO IS PAYING THEM THIS BONUS!

That is, WE THE TAXPAYERS. What a joke. Yeah, $10 to $25 million a year sure does sound fair. Whatever.

Originally posted by budski
Isn't anyone else sick of this fatcat behaviour which ytreats the rest of the world with contempt?

No.

Its ignorant to suggest that it is the workers' fault.

How long do you think a company that makes huge losses and simultaneously gives away billions in bonuses can last in a free market economy?

The solution is not to ban bonuses or any other such communist measure... the solution is to let banks that **** up go bust.

Governments are taking the worst aspects of the market economy and the worst aspects of the communist approach and merging them together. This is definitely going to end in tears.

Investment bankers themselves are not bad people. They are the brightest of the bright, attracted by the highest salaries possible.

Its not the players' fault, its a broken game.

reply to post by hinky


No they did not earn it - they should be locked up for financial mismanagement of the highest order and be locked away for


fraud


defrauding the investors is the first crime of many they have commited in wantingly collapsing a company for financial gain.

reply to post by 44soulslayer


That's the problem - they went bust, are getting bailed out, and the taxpayer in the US is footing the bill, as well as the shareholders of the company taking over - that ain't capitalism at work, that's screwed up socialism.
The bosses mess up, the taxpayers and shareholders foot the bill - just how is that capitalism?

The only people getting bonusses are the bosses who created the whole mess in the first place through sheer greed.

Originally posted by hinky
Why wouldn't they get their bonus, they earned it!

The average blue collar worker just doesn't have the proper mindset to understand all the financial babble over this. These people worked hard and now the company wants to reward them. I see no problem here.

Without "smileys", I am unable to determine if this is sarcastic or not.

If it's not...... wow. Just wow. So, you think they should be rewarded for driving their companies into bankruptcy?

John Todd said in the 70s that you would know when the Illuminati plan was almost in effect, because they would start PURPOSELY bankrupting their companies. Interesting.

Just so we're clear here, let's cast our minds back to when shrub was first elected and the corporate lobbying from wall street to de-regulate the market, from some of the presidents biggest contributors.

The lobbying was successful, and the wall street mob immediately plunged into a world of high risk ventures created by "derivatives" - mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps, all riding on an unprecedented real estate bubble stimulated by their frenzy of creative finance.

And then the self-created bubble burst.

So what happens?

Paulsons ex colleagues on wall street cry for help, and paulson (ex goldman sachs CEO who made $700 million over 32 tears) agrees to bail them out, to the tune (and detriment to the taxpayer) of $700 billion for starters.

The financial well being of a country should not be based on croneyism and looking after your mates.

It's right that a flow of cash and credit needs to be maintained, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of properly run smaller institutes that could provide this.

It's not right that these greed fuelled people are being bailed out of a mess of their own making.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven - I thought the Northern Rock bailout was bad enough, but this is a thousand times worse.

Amen to that Budski,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this what happen when corporate corruption gets hold of the people's government and they bring the corruption into the government, this people are making YES MAKING LAWS to protect their corporate buds at the expenses of Americas working class THE TAX PAYER.

That is what is happening.

I just don't agree with all this talk of "socialism" in the huge bailouts being enacted. It isn't socialism at all but rampant capitalism.
The whole capitalist system is there to protect the elites from any exposure while bleeding the rest of us for every penny they can.
In a socialist system these leeches would never have been able to get away with the rampant criminality in the first place.

I say let them all fail and seize the assets of the elites to pay off the debts, after all, they created the mess in the first place. What is needed is non-partisan, public oversight of the government and the laws it passes allowing this sort of situation to happen. Without that, we'll just get shafted every time.

Woah woah, I know morally allot of this sounds questionable, giving money to the failed CEO's and all... but a solution to that is a problem in itself.

If the government were to step in and decide what each member of a company gets and doesn't get, that's direct control over the company via the government... and that my friends, is unthinkable.

It sets a precedent. That the government can command whatever company they like to do as they like.
I know, you'll say "But they have to be bought out first."
C'mon, it's the government... if they can't already afford you, they can drag you down until you become affordable.


No. The governments job does not involve sitting in the CEO's chair and deciding how the companies in the country are run.

Socialism has failed far too many times... we should all realize by now it's just not a feasible solution in today's capitalist world.

2.5 billion to 5000 New York Lehman employees. Scandalous. Absolutely and totally scandalous.

Let them eat caviar and bordeux. The French went thru this once.

I am appalled and keeping my response as civil as possible though I want my keyboard to start smoking.

Originally posted by johnsky

Socialism has failed far too many times... we should all realize by now it's just not a feasible solution in today's capitalist world.

Fine, as long as the Government regulates in a proper manner and sets some ground rules. What we have is the big corporate boys calling the shots and essentially paying off the politicians to allow them to self-regulate. That is what got us into this big mess.

I have said it many times before but here it is again: as soon as any public official, whether elected or appointed, accepts one penny from corporate or special interest groups, they should be banned from office for life. They are there to represent the people, NOT the corporations or high paying lobbyists whose interests may usually run counter to the good of the people and the country, benefiting only a few.