Watchdog Says Treasury Let GM, Ally Give Executives Big Raises During TARP

Wall Street Journal ^ | September 24, 2014 | Alan Zibel

[jazusamo]

Report Criticizes Treasury for Allowing Pay Packages Worth at Least $1 Million a Year

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department allowed General Motors Co. GM +0.69% and Ally Financial Corp. ALLY +0.43% to give big pay raises to top executives while the firms struggled to exit their federal bailouts, a federal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report criticized the Treasury for allowing Ally and GM to pay compensation packages worth at least $1 million in 2013 for all 25 top executives at each company. The companies paid those executives an average of $3 million annually, an increase of 28% from 2009, the report found.

The Treasury sold off its remaining stake in GM in December 2013 at a loss of $10.5 billion, according to Treasury figures. Ally, the former GM financing arm, is the last major company to have a government investment through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Earlier this month, Treasury said it sold off 8.9 million shares in the auto lender, reducing its stake in the company to 13.8%. The government has recouped about $18 billion on its Ally investment, more than the $17.2 billion originally invested.

In a report, the special inspector general for TARP questioned Treasury's pay oversight at the two firms, which remained in the 2008 federal rescue program far longer than other big companies.

[GirlShortstop]

Bookmark, bump

[Erik Latranyi]

Now, if the WSJ wanted to do some real journalism, they would check the campaign contributions of those executives and who was the beneficiary of those raises and bonuses?

[jazusamo]

Another article at The Washington Times:

Obama administration overpaid GM, Ally Financial execs: audit -- Millions in ‘excessive’ pay sent as companies withheld billions from taxpayers

[jazusamo]

That would be very interesting and I believe we know who they gave to.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Hey, the unions get to keep their cushy jobs, the executives get raises, both groups fund a bunch of campaign dollars to the Dems. Only the taxpayers get screwed, but who cares about them?

[tumblindice]

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[jazusamo]

Exactly.

[blueunicorn6]

We have become fascist Italy.

[Theoria]

Ally is a big contributor to NPR.

[Vendome]

So?

They took and were going to ask forgiveness later.

Nice to read they are reporting on what shouldn’t have happened but, it’s not like anyone is going to take the loot back.

Besides, I’m sure they had contracts in place creating an obligation by Givernment Motors.

[Pollster1]

The whole point of TARP was to use our tax dollars and dedbt to someday be paid by our children in rewarding big political donors. Some of those donors were UAW, other unions, and similar groups that profited from TARP’s rescue of their companies, but others were executives who profited from these raises. TARP, the Bailout, Stimulus, and the lawless GM bankruptcy were all corrupt, and this is just one facet of that corruption.

I am boycotting GM and other involved companies forever because of that corruption, and I hope many other decent people will do the same.

[jazusamo]

You’re not alone in boycotting GM and affiliates.

Over the last several years in articles here there are many who’ve vowed the same.