White House slashes pay for Wall Street executives

White House slashes pay for Wall Street executives

www.politico.com

The Obama administration stunned Wall Street on Wednesday by ordering massive pay cuts for top executives at seven financial firms that still hold billions in U.S. government bailout funds.

The move – which would lower average cash compensation by 90 percent — means the administration is making a frontal assault on Wall Street’s gold-plated compensation culture at a time of growing public anger over the firms’ massive pay and bonuses.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow so apparently this was a surprise move that nobody in the financial district was prepared for. The article goes on to state that no AIG executive will receive more than 200,000 dollars in compensation. Apparently this is just a taste of what's to come for Obama's plans on financial reform.

Was this a good move by the administration? After all, the executives pretty much went back to business as usual and began rewarding themselves with massive bonuses of taxpayer money.

Or, was this government overreach and we're setting a new precedent for big brother intervention into capitalist markets?

At any rate, the firms did accept the TARP funds. What do you guys think?

www.politico.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Avenginggecko


Does anyone else see a problem with that? THE GOVERMENT IS CUTTING A PRIVATE FIRMS PAY....

A BAILOUT THAT THE people never wanted in the first place.

Based entirely on performance, I think our White House officials should be paying the American people.

A group of Marxists, bent of destroying capitalism.

I don't believe that even one of them has ever had an honest job.

Underachievers to be certain.

I don't think it was a good or bad move when judged in the shadow of the bailouts themselves.

I would count these boards as, by proxy, government employees rather than simply private employers at this point. This isn't something to get all hot and bothered about.

Another case of making a mountain out of a molehill relatively.

reply to post by KrazyJethro


I'm not so sure. This is a pretty big event, seeing as how it hasn't happened before (that I know of). It's kind of setting a precedent and it shows that the government is, in fact, changing the way business is done in the states.

Originally posted by poedxsoldiervet
reply to post by Avenginggecko

 

Does anyone else see a problem with that? THE GOVERMENT IS CUTTING A PRIVATE FIRMS PAY....

A BAILOUT THAT THE people never wanted in the first place.

You kinda hit the nail there, friend. No way the government should be intervening in the pay of a private corporation... that being said, no way the government should have intervened in the financial AID of a private firm, either.


I knew this would be coming sooner or later, though, soon as the bailouts happened, and reports of their bonuses started coming in. Definitely no surprise to me.

What more proof do the masses need to see that the current administration has a Marxist agenda?

While I believe that these bankster/executive scum should not be paid outrageous salary's/bonuses the government should not be the ones to do it.

These corporations should have been left to fail and let the free market do it's thing.



[edit on 21-10-2009 by lucentenigma]

Originally posted by Avenginggecko
I'm not so sure. This is a pretty big event, seeing as how it hasn't happened before (that I know of). It's kind of setting a precedent and it shows that the government is, in fact, changing the way business is done in the states.

Big event in what way? The big event was allowing zombie business to exist in this nation. Once that fact exists, everything afterward is business as usual in comparison.

They, like the government, will continue the debt train. Debt has allowed stagnant wages to create a consumption service economy, so things like "jobless recovery" are terms bandied around by people who either have an agenda, parrot those who have an agenda, or are plain stupid.

The nuts and bolts of the government's action has been written in history time and time again and it has never worked, even when the foundation of the economy WAS secure. It's is currently terrible so what's a little Federal Intervention going to do really?

This is a move to assuage the anger of the people. There are many such things going on, including the $250 idea to SS folks. It's going to be just enough to stem bloodshed if possible.

This is the wool coming over already blind eyes.

reply to post by Jomina


Totaly agree there, I expected this to... Thats why there is no room for big government in buisness. yikes its getting scary.

I agree with others, the bailout itself should NEVER have happened. ALL of us were screaming at the tops of our lungs NOT to bail out these poorly run companies, but of course the government ignored us. I don't disagree with limiting the bonuses for these execs though, since they took all of our tax money. I'm glad on a personal level it won't be lining the pockets of those greedy sons of bitches. If the government starts trying to intervene in the decisions made by companies that didn't beg for handouts, it will be a very big problem.

reply to post by 27jd


I totally agree with that statement. These firms readily took TARP when it was offered and now the government has come calling when news broke that the companies went on business as usual.

It's a little frightening though. Give the government an inch, and they take a mile. Give the US government an inch, and they take an industry. Most of wall street is probably crapping their pants right now.

Maybe it is just me, but in reading this all that entered my mind (and very loudly so as to drown out al other thought) was Ozzy belting out the lyrics to "War Pigs" and the guitar riffs.

You can almost see Obama capping the tube of red lipstick and tossing it aside after drawing that big red bulls eye on his forehead.

This is a fine example of financial darwinism. The talent at these firms is running for the door and will leave them weak and vulnerable, while making the rest bigger, stronger and more politically influential.

Meanwhile, the taxpayers are left holding a bag of crap, while the other firms prosper only to hand out even bigger bonuses.

Originally posted by dooper
Based entirely on performance, I think our White House officials should be paying the American people.

A group of Marxists, bent of destroying capitalism.

I don't believe that even one of them has ever had an honest job.

Underachievers to be certain.

Are you approving of the Wall street culture of taking our money and then giving their execs huge bonuses for lackluster performance?

I'm confused.... Because it sure sounds that way.

I think the money the company saves from these cuts should go toward paying off the tarp loan. These execs should not receive their millions in bonuses until we get our money back. After that, they can do whatever they want.

I imagine that it has other desired effects.

At 15:12 DJIA was at 10075.94 then there was a news release... I can't pin the exact time down, but from the time stamps of most of the "news" snippets that stated the "pay czar" thing, it was right about this time. At 16:00 the DJIA closed at 9949.36, a drop of 126.58 pts over a 47 minute time period.











[edit on 21-10-2009 by RoofMonkey]

reply to post by HunkaHunka


They did not take our money. We gave it to them. Now some of them screwed us this is true, but at least we had the choice to give it to them or not. This is unlike the government who will take our money whether we desire it or not, aka taxation. Then they screw us too. So at least I would rather have a choice about who screws me.

[edit on 21-10-2009 by VitalTimes]

Originally posted by lucentenigma
What more proof do the masses need to see that the current administration has a Marxist agenda?

While I believe that these bankster/executive scum should not be paid outrageous salary's/bonuses the government should not be the ones to do it.

These corporations should have been left to fail and let the free market do it's thing

Do you even know the history of capitalism in this country?

Originally the Government held charters for all companies. And they had the right to revoke these charters on behalf of the American people.

That's not Marxist... that's American.

Unfortunately, Big Business changed all of that...

Originally posted by VitalTimes
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

They did not take our money. We gave it to them. Now some of them screwed us this is true, but at least we had the choice to give it to them or not. This is unlike the government who will take our money whether we desire it or not, aka taxation. Then they screw us too. So at least I would rather have choice.

No... "WE" didn't give it to them, "THEY" gave it to them... despite overwhelming cries from "US" for "THEM" to not do it.

In some cases, the bank CEOs were effectively held hostage until they accepted the funds.