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Bonus Babies
IBD Editorials ^ | January 30, 2009

Posted on 01/30/2009 5:44:45 PM PST by Kaslin

Capitalism: It's more than a bit scary when a powerful politician suggests that getting a bonus might get you prosecuted as a criminal. But that's where we are today. Welcome to the new world of post-bailout capitalism.


We have to admit: For an industry that posted enormous losses in 2009 and is now on the government dole, $18.4 billion in "performance" bonuses for Wall Street executives seems a tad much. President Obama called it "shameful."

"There will be time for them to make profits," he said Thursday with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner by his side. "And there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now's not that time. And that's the message that I intend to send directly to them, I expect Secretary Geithner to send to them."

Vice President Joe Biden was even more pointed: "I'd like to throw these guys in the brig," he said.

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd had this to say to those executives who take home big bonuses: "If you do it, I'm going to bring you before the (Senate Banking) Committee."

Perhaps the ire is deserved. It's hard to defend Wall Street executives' pay. Last year, the Dow closed off 34%, its third-biggest loss ever, as trillions in wealth evaporated. And financial companies lost nearly $50 billion for their shareholders.

Yet executives gave themselves hefty bonuses, claiming they had to do so in order to keep talented people.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bho44; bhowallstreet; geithner; wallstreet
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1 posted on 01/30/2009 5:44:46 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
"Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd had this to say to those executives who take home big bonuses: "If you do it, I'm going to bring you before the (Senate Banking) Committee."

Someone needs to put this crook under investigation.

2 posted on 01/30/2009 5:49:17 PM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: Kaslin
Sometimes bonus are contract related, if your group meets it's numbers, you get your bonus. My former company had two part system, a business area bonus and a corporate goal bonus.

So whose belief is it we should let the likes of hair plugs determine what the private sector does. That's what shareholders are for.

Maybe the entrepreneurs should meet up at Galt’s Gulch for cocktails.

3 posted on 01/30/2009 5:49:28 PM PST by Tarpon (America's first principles, freedom, liberty, market economy and self-reliance will never fail.)
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To: blackbart.223

Investigate? It is way past the time for investigating.


4 posted on 01/30/2009 5:51:28 PM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . The original point of America was not to be Europe)
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To: Kaslin

Capitalism is the only economic system that buttresses individual rights. Biden is dumber than he looks. The Haavaad educated, light-weight-socialist, propagandists-created, king-of-the-collectivists, con-man might know better but that’s not his purpose.


5 posted on 01/30/2009 5:54:48 PM PST by PGalt
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To: blackbart.223

Especially since he still hasn’t brought his mortgage papers yet, which he promised 6 month ago he would do


6 posted on 01/30/2009 5:55:10 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: bert
"Investigate? It is way past the time for investigating."

Prison time then. Not holding my breath here.

7 posted on 01/30/2009 5:55:31 PM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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$18.4 billion in "performance" bonuses for Wall Street executives seems a tad much. President Obama called it "shameful."

Wasn't too shameful when Citigroup donated 8 million to your inauguration and then asked for my bailout money was it Obama?

8 posted on 01/30/2009 5:57:14 PM PST by MirandaRietz
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To: Kaslin
"Especially since he still hasn’t brought his mortgage papers yet, which he promised 6 month ago he would do."

Six months from now he still will have failed to do so.

9 posted on 01/30/2009 5:58:11 PM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: Kaslin

Well, what about all the banks that didn’t make subprime loans, or deal in SIVs, and never lost money in any quarter.

Surely the people who work there deserve to be rewarded - especially the high executives who decided not to participate in folly.

Many of these banks were given TARP money, even though they didn’t need it, to get interbank lending going again.


10 posted on 01/30/2009 5:58:29 PM PST by proxy_user
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To: Tarpon
Maybe the entrepreneurs should meet up at Galt’s Gulch for cocktails.

I think the producers are pondering just that, instead of being victimized by the parasites. These thugs are gonna have a hard time propping up anything very soon.

11 posted on 01/30/2009 5:58:55 PM PST by PGalt
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To: blackbart.223

Here’s where the rub comes in about the “oversight” in the bailout package. By taking the government’s bailout money, businesses are placing themselves under the whim of these lunatics in Congress. I’m certain we are only seeing the beginning of the ways Democrats will try to interfere with private industry using the bailout as their justification. If you lie down with dogs, you are bound to get fleas.


12 posted on 01/30/2009 6:02:45 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: MirandaRietz

No comparison yet of the enormous ‘severance package’ the tax-cheat brought with him? And what was that crap about comp time back pay?

I think there was a ton of creative license used to try to cloud the chunk of change he took out the door (Geithner or whatever his name is).


13 posted on 01/30/2009 6:03:20 PM PST by SusaninOhio
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To: Boogieman
"If you lie down with dogs, you are bound to get fleas."

Too true. Let's hope Obama gets the urge to start scratching very soon.

14 posted on 01/30/2009 6:11:51 PM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: Tarpon
So whose belief is it we should let the likes of hair plugs determine what the private sector does. That's what shareholders are for.

As a taxpayer, I have become one of the shareholders, but I'll never see a return on my investment...And I say, 'throw these bums out'...

15 posted on 01/30/2009 6:23:19 PM PST by Iscool (I don't understand all that I know...)
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To: Kaslin
Perhaps the ire is deserved. It's hard to defend Wall Street executives' pay. Last year, the Dow closed off 34%, its third-biggest loss ever, as trillions in wealth evaporated. And financial companies lost nearly $50 billion for their shareholders.

Yet executives gave themselves hefty bonuses, claiming they had to do so in order to keep talented people.

This reminds me of a story from "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". A couple of traders got a tip on a stock from an elderly Wall Street guy who should have been in a position to know what he was talking about. The traders bought the stock, thinking they were going to make a good deal of money. Of course, the stock tanked, and the traders lost big. One of the fooled traders decided to send a message to the tipster calling him all sorts of names for having given a lousy tip, but the other one told him to hold off. "Why," the first trader asked. And the second trader said: "If you make the old guy mad, he won't give us any more tips!"

I would imagine that many of the folks whose investments have tanked over the past year or so wouldn't mind seeing some of these "talented" Wall Street jackasses take a hike. With talented people like that, who needs enemies?

16 posted on 01/30/2009 7:27:49 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: Kaslin
We have to admit: For an industry that posted enormous losses in 2009

Damn, a whole year just ripped by, that was pretty fast!!

Cannot do anything but a writer so out of touch he doesn't know what year it is. LOL

17 posted on 01/30/2009 7:59:46 PM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: Tarpon
Sometimes bonus are contract related, if your group meets it's numbers, you get your bonus. My former company had two part system, a business area bonus and a corporate goal bonus.

BS, let them file bankruptcy and see how long those so called contracts last. These companies were insolvent.

18 posted on 01/30/2009 8:02:58 PM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: Tarpon
So whose belief is it we should let the likes of hair plugs determine what the private sector does. That's what shareholders are for.

I see nothing wrong with a law removing the salaries of the management from the boards and requiring a two thirds vote of the stock holder.

19 posted on 01/30/2009 8:06:19 PM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: org.whodat

It’s called bylaws of the corporations. If you don’t like them, you shouldn’t invest in those companies.

I see plenty wrong with the government taking over management salaries. Would you work in one of those management slots for a government salary? I wouldn’t.

Trust me, you do not want to do this. They will just retire to Galt’s Gulch.


20 posted on 01/30/2009 8:13:13 PM PST by Tarpon (America's first principles, freedom, liberty, market economy and self-reliance will never fail.)
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