Time to stop the chest-thumping…
While most of my attention was focused on the remarkable Harry Markopolos hearing yesterday, which I was live blogging on Twitter, it was hard to ignore the other big story of the day: President Obama’s new rules on executive compensation that put caps on both compensation and many of the perks that have become de rigeuer in C-suites across the country, including, as the NY Times reported today, at banks you’ve never heard of before.
Since a fair amount of what we do here at footnoted.org is look at pay and perks, which, of course, are usually buried in SEC filings, it seems odd not to weigh in here. I still remember last March when we footnoted about Goldman Sach’s (GS) disclosure on Lloyd Blankfein’s lunch bill. It was easy to poke fun of the disclosure at the time, especially since Goldman was still flying high. And to be fair, Blankfein’s lunch bill was immaterial so Goldman didn’t have to disclose the perk. But doing so provided a glimpse into what life was like in the C-suites there and, presumably, at other places too.
So while all of this chest-thumping about greedy bankers makes for lots of man-on-the-street outrage and is great fodder for outraged politicians, you have to wonder why all of thesse people weren’t paying attention to this before as the paychecks and the perks kept getting bigger and bolder.
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Posted in Tags: bailout, perks, politics |
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February 5th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
The thuggish, “kick-yo’ ass” tone is getting quite bothersome and we are what,—-2 weeks in?
And I even somewhat agree with the general sentiment expressed by the President regarding corporate executive waste and over-indulgence but am aggravated, soon to be disgusted, with the overly pompous bluster. That bullying facade, which is being employed as a gimmick to appeal to the “little guy” who imagines himself to be “reconnecting with his voice” and “finding his power”, is sounding like little more than your typical, obvious distraction and cover-up by a guy who wants us to not look behind that curtain.
Bellow and bluster. Send little Toto scampering. Lest we see the indecisive, unsure, somewhat less than secure Savior-in-Chief at the console.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
WALL STREET RED INKY BONUS BOYS
(Heinrich Hoffman’s Struwwelpeter, Inky Boys)
WilliamBanzai7
The Story of the Red Inky Bonus Boys
As he had often done before,
The newly elected President
One nice fine day went out
To see his constituents, and walk about;
Then Johnny Thain, little noisy banker wag,
Ran out and laughed, and waved his big red bonus flag;
And Vikram Pandit came in jacket trim,
And brought his French jet fleet and baseball stadium sponsorship with him;
And Ken Lewis, too, snatched up his toys
And joined the other naughty Wall Street boys.
So, one and all set up a roar,
And laughed and looted more and more,
And kept on singing,–only think!–
“Oh, Obama, we pay ourselves huge bonuses with taxpayer red ink!”
Now tall Secretary Geithner lived close by–
So tall, he almost touched the Wall Street sky;
He had a mighty inkstand, too,
In which a great Federal goose-feather grew;
He called out in an angry tone
“Boys, you better leave your Wall Street bonus toys home!
For, if Obama tries with all his might,
He he will put your loss riddled banks a bonus black hole overnite.”
But, ah! they did not mind a bit
What great Geithner said of it;
But went on laughing, as before,
And hooting about their bonus hoard.
Then great Geithner foams with rage–
Look at him on this very page!
He seizes Thain, seizes Ken,
Takes Pandit by his little head;
And they may scream and kick and call,
Into the TARP black ink he dips them all;
Into the inkstand, one, two, three,
Till they are now in the black and bonus capped as can be.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Did Obama drop the ball at his first press conference? Yesterday the markets were down. walstreet wants more money . For what ? You tell me IM paul jensen