Farin Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package [smaller]Simon Bowers | The Guardian | Saturday October 18 2008 | Link[/smaller] Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned. Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed. Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany's Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts. The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. Shares in Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have declined by more than 45% since the start of the year. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 60%. JP MorganChase fell 6.4% and Lehman Brothers has collapsed. At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank. In the first nine months of the year Citigroup, which employs thousands of staff in the UK, accrued $25.9bn for salaries and bonuses, an increase on the previous year of 4%. Earlier this week the bank accepted a $25bn investment by the US government as part of its bail-out plan. At Goldman Sachs the figure was $11.4bn, Morgan Stanley $10.73bn, JP Morgan $6.53bn and Merrill Lynch $11.7bn. At Merrill, which was on the point of going bust last month before being taken over by Bank of America, the total accrued in the last quarter grew 76% to $3.49bn. At Morgan Stanley, the amount put aside for staff compensation also grew in the last quarter to the end of August by 3% to $3.7bn. Days before it collapsed into bankruptcy protection a month ago Lehman Brothers revealed $6.12bn of staff pay plans in its corporate filings. These payouts, the bank insisted, were justified despite net revenue collapsing from $14.9bn to a net outgoing of $64m. None of the banks the Guardian contacted wished to comment on the record about their pay plans. But behind the scenes, one source said: "For a normal person the salaries are very high and the bonuses seem even higher. But in this world you get a top bonus for top performance, a medium bonus for mediocre performance and a much smaller bonus if you don't do so well." Many critics of investment banks have questioned why firms continue to siphon off billions of dollars of bank earnings into bonus pools rather than using the funds to shore up the capital position of the crisis-stricken institutions. One source said: "That's a fair question - and it may well be that by the end of the year the banks start review the situation." Much of the anger about investment banking bonuses has focused on boardroom executives such as former Lehman boss Dick Fuld, who was paid $485m in salary, bonuses and options between 2000 and 2007. Last year Merrill Lynch's chairman Stan O'Neal retired after announcing losses of $8bn, taking a final pay deal worth $161m. Citigroup boss Chuck Prince left last year with a $38m in bonuses, shares and options after multibillion-dollar write-downs. In Britain, Bob Diamond, Barclays president, is one of the few investment bankers whose pay is public. Last year he received a salary of £250,000, but his total pay, including bonuses, reached £36m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Now we have a cadre of wealthy and powerful folk being propped up by the taxpayers by act of congress. That's Fascism - and obama, clinton, and mccsame are to blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 interesting... I would have said it's the banks, respectively their bosses, fault... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 No. They're not the ones writing out blank checks from the tax-payers. If there had been no bail-out, there'd be no bonuses. Bad banks with bad management would just sink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 yes, exactly... only they would take millions of people's accounts and money with them... not to mention that there would be nobody to give out loans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcM Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 They should have given the money to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 It woulda been better to put that money into unemployment benefits. Then people would be directly helped by their govt. The banks have already made off with millions from people's accounts and loans are hard to come by already. What congress (mcsame, clinton, obama, et al.) has essentially done is privatise profits and socialise their losses at the cost of inflation while putting no restraints or rules that would prevent the banks from doing this again. It has happened before, it's happening now, and it will happen again. It's a bit cyclical: Wealthy and powerful corporations and interests call the shots with our economy by buying elections, then they drive the economy down with a pyramid scheme, the whole thing collapses, they buy everything back for cheap, prices go up, and they become even more wealthy and powerful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Oh, and if you throw in a war or an invasion or two, they could make a killing in profits there as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 All in all, I give barack osama, jon mcsame, and their cronies an all around f*** y** for screwing this whole country over. This PLUS their votes for such crap as the patriot act have made it clear whose side they're really on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 it makes me insane that I'm feeling the thumbscrews to pony up so Mr. Have can have more to spend on his next Italian vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 Quoting that Canadian poet, ...everybody knows the fight was fixed, the poor stay poor, the rich get rich, thats how it goes, everybody knows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Our last CEO where I work almost sank the company and took a $50 million dollar golden parachute. Thankfully, we survived, and while not thriving, we are doing well. Companies can survive mismanagement without bailouts. I think, even though I know it will never happen, that these thieving a$$holes should be made to pay back every dollar they swindled. If not in cash, then get out there and clean garbage off the streets, whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ombre Vivante Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 What congress failed to do is hold hearings and have them indicted for fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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