Wall Street bonuses exceed $90 BILLION

tangible thoughts · March 2010

Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley together set about $90 BILLION for bonuses, salaries, and compensations.
-NYTIMES

Is it me or does nobody know about this or just don't care? They drive our economy into a recession with unemployment rates hovering around 10% and than they reward themselves with $90 BILLION after they made record profits after being given LOANS AT NEGLIGIBLE INTEREST which is OUR TAX DOLLARS?

bornnraisedoffCMR · March 2010

Did you get a thank you letter in the mail?

BOSS KTULU · March 2010

nationalize every bank

line up the CEO's against the wall

long live the glorious People's Republic of America

The Prime Minister · March 2010

Everybody knows. They're doing this shit in broad daylight.

tangible thoughts · March 2010

The Prime Minister wrote: »

Everybody knows. They're doing this shit in broad daylight.

Exactly, shows how wall street thinks they could do whatever the fuck they want without fear of the people

trackreviver · March 2010

tangible thoughts wrote: »

Exactly, shows how wall street thinks they could do whatever the fuck they want without fear of the people

well they can. whos gonna stop them? a uprising from the American people..don't make me laugh. this aint 1955. Government officials? they got their pocket full from their lobbyist.. the average american is comfortable in their own zone. i don't think we'll ever see a national protest on any issue no matter how wrong or how much we get fkked.

musicology1985 · March 2010

real live banksters reppin' that wall street turf syndicate son.

but foreal, the average american just tryna pay them bills. people have too many choices to make on a yearly basis & so much pressure to maintain the high quality of life that we enjoy in this country that theirs no time to focus on the issues. and that is exactly how it was designed.

DoUwant2go2Heaven? · March 2010

90 Billion dollars!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well. By the time Americans get a clue, grow a set, and start an uprising, marshall law will be declared and anarchy will commence.

Sion · March 2010

@ bank bonuses.... hmm this is an issue.... i do agree that there needs to be a degree of self-competence here. the only banks that i think deserve their bonuses are wells fargo , goldman sachs, JPmorgan & usbancorp. if u payed off ur tarp, had very minimal exposure to subprime n proper ethics like them then u should get off the hook. My problem w/ bonuses are managers who rip off shareholders n damage whole co.s milking them for everything while the business' output lags just dont care smh. there needs to be a more production-based model on how compensation should be earned. i dont think that some1 who puts minimal effort into running an enterprise & rips ppl off should be getting big bonuses. Citigroup has got to be one of the worst co.s ever, i doubt that their managers will accept the bonuses as the backlash will be too much for their reputation. I know Moynihan of BAC prolly aint gonna allow the bonuses either i... he just became CEO just the other day, plus the last CEO ken lewis didnt take his compensation he declined surely Moynihan would follow suit ? & even tho BAC is on the verge of payin off the TARP (by raising 1.5B which i dont agree w/ btw cuz u cant borrow money from jim to pay paul) i dont think shareholders would be inclined to buy up new issues to help BAC raise the cash needed. wallstreet a funny place fam... sad thing about this is that it will happen again. 2010's bonuses are gonna be modest wait till 2011-2012 come... bonuses are gonna be outrageous SMH.

DarcSkies777 · March 2010

In all honesty I dont blame them for taking the bonuses. If somebody offered you a 100 million dollar bonus you'd take it too. I blame the government agencies for allowing it to go unchecked. Obama is so worried about getting reelected in 2012 and not falling for GOP talking points calling him a socialist, etc that he is too afraid to ask that his cabinet do whats right. Although I hear they had a meeting abut that very thing last week abut ignoring media and just doing their jobs.

But we'll see what comes of this.

bornnraisedoffCMR · March 2010

These banks should be out of business right now, it serves us right.

Now, the "Too Big to Fail" banks are even BIGGER and more interconnected in the world economy than ever. So you just have to swollow it.

See the thing is, you can cry all you want about new regulations and financial reform, but the big banks will always be sheilded from those regulations because they help finance our government. Shit!! Who do you think helps write our tax code? Fucking Goldman Sachs lawyers! Fucking Tim Geithner used to work there and is still bar buddies with most of the people there. LOL @ yall thinking the government will stop this.....THE GOVERNMENT LOVES THIS.

The Fed keeps these banks flowing with fiat money, and these banks roll that shit into risky investments and buy treasure bonds to finance our record deficits.

bornnraisedoffCMR · March 2010

ThatDamnJay wrote: »

which is why I said after the economy's on firmer footing, there will probably be meaningful reform. or at least an attempt for meaningful reform.

why?? cuz at this point in history, there's never been a greater example of the starkness of millions of unemployed people losing their part of "the American Dream", while the banks that their tax dollars just used to keep them afloat are now earning bonuses...

.

Well, that begs the question...Why? See the thing is the reform that you speak of must come through the markets or it wont happen at all. Government wont do it, I dont care who is in there, Republican or Democrat.

The reason the guys are getting flushed with so much money is because that banking industry is now immune to the free market forces. The big banks are protected by the government and the Federal Reserve so that they remain powerful entities and dont have to worry about competition. One thing these banks fear the most is competition...which is why they would actually thrive under more financial reform laws because these firms have Economies of scale. They can afford to deal with the regulation. Smaller banks cant so there is no competition. Free Market banking has been dead in the country for years and it is the main reason we are in the situation we are in. See, people think when I speak of free market, they think Im talking about the status quo, they think up talking about huge corporatocracy like we have now, but this is a result of government not free market. In a free market, me, you and some other people with capital can pool together, start our own community bank and lift up our community our selves by providing smart loans and safe banking. Sheeeiiiit, try doing that now. Impossible. This is why you dont see any new banks opening up because the game is rigged man. You have to have all kinds of connections within government and the Fed to even think about opening up a bank. You have to be a part of the crew.

bornnraisedoffCMR · March 2010

ThatDamnJay wrote: »

^that doesn't retract from what I said tho.

the changes you're discussing started goin into effect after deregulation and whatnot after the S&L crisis of the 80s. and it's never been a truly free market due to government intervention, that's also a given. I'm not disagreeing with you at all.

what I'm sayin is, now is a moment in time where things are at their most polarizing, for lack of a better term. <- that answers the "why". I just caught on the news today about a dude makin a 1000+ plus commute to work, fighting to keep what's theirs. watch the headlines for a few more minutes and you'll catch a story about one of these banks' bonuses breakin records...the people are already dealin with enough bullshit azz headlines, but this kinda stuff hits very hard at home.

Obama rode in with a mission to make change where he could. this is an area where that can be attempted. of course whatever they come up with is gonna have its flaws. of course the other party's gonna find those flaws and make big noise about it. and of course somebody's gonna Monday quarterback and talk about how more big government's ruining whatever. that reform needs to come tho.

I hear ya bruh.

the money we spend on TARP, Stimulus, Jobs bills, and not the mention all the under the table trillions the FED doled out, we could have fed a lot of people ya feel me? Thats why I get pissed when I hear liberals defending shit like TARP (even though Im not liberal), liberals should be fighting for the poor and all this shit the govt has been doing is fucking the poor.

ThaDocta · March 2010

This is the worst public policy screw up in 120 years. The banks steamrolled Obama/Geithner and in the end fleeced taxpayers despite causing financial disaster all over planet earth. Universal healthcare is socialized medicine, and it won't work, but here we have a bank bailout of bad bets in which banks get made whole on losses while the taxpayer never shares in the gains = SOCIALISM of the worst kind: rob from the poor and give to the rich. OMG this is the lowest of the low....Obama and crew propping up thieves while the Ds keep spinning and the ho's keep grinnin' and we're falling through the floooooor

bornnraisedoffCMR · March 2010

ThaDocta wrote: »

This is the worst public policy screw up in 120 years. The banks steamrolled Obama/Geithner and in the end fleeced taxpayers despite causing financial disaster all over planet earth. Universal healthcare is socialized medicine, and it won't work, but here we have a bank bailout of bad bets in which banks get made whole on losses while the taxpayer never shares in the gains = SOCIALISM of the worst kind: rob from the poor and give to the rich. OMG this is the lowest of the low....Obama and crew propping up thieves while the Ds keep spinning and the ho's keep grinnin' and we're falling through the floooooor

rofl great post

tangible thoughts · March 2010

None of these banks CEO's deserved bonuses, at most they deserved stock options with a 5 year limit on selling them. They posted record profits because they have been loaned the bailout money with little to no interest. Yet some of these banks have yet to pay off their loans even though they reserved millions to billions of dollars to reward their upper echelon for putting our economy in the biggest downfall since the great depression and laying off tens of thousands of employees that till this date still are unemployed.

ThaDocta · March 2010

bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »

rofl great post

at ease, if you please, I say thank you

ThaDocta · March 2010

sionb55 wrote: »

@ bank bonuses.... hmm this is an issue.... i do agree that there needs to be a degree of self-competence here. the only banks that i think deserve their bonuses are wells fargo , goldman sachs, JPmorgan & usbancorp. if u payed off ur tarp, had very minimal exposure to subprime n proper ethics like them then u should get off the hook. My problem w/ bonuses are managers who rip off shareholders n damage whole co.s milking them for everything while the business' output lags just dont care smh. there needs to be a more production-based model on how compensation should be earned. i dont think that some1 who puts minimal effort into running an enterprise & rips ppl off should be getting big bonuses. Citigroup has got to be one of the worst co.s ever, i doubt that their managers will accept the bonuses as the backlash will be too much for their reputation. I know Moynihan of BAC prolly aint gonna allow the bonuses either i... he just became CEO just the other day, plus the last CEO ken lewis didnt take his compensation he declined surely Moynihan would follow suit ? & even tho BAC is on the verge of payin off the TARP (by raising 1.5B which i dont agree w/ btw cuz u cant borrow money from jim to pay paul) i dont think shareholders would be inclined to buy up new issues to help BAC raise the cash needed. wallstreet a funny place fam... sad thing about this is that it will happen again. 2010's bonuses are gonna be modest wait till 2011-2012 come... bonuses are gonna be outrageous SMH.

You are missing something here....TARP was only part of the deal....the other part, which is absolutely criminal, is the bailout of AIG ($100+ billion) in such a way that Goldman Sachs and many other banks who had gambled with AIG protection were made whole on those bets -- 100 cents on the dollar. The money went into AIG and right back out to Goldman and the boyz....but it DID NOT HAVE TO BE. If Geithner hadn't been body-slammed in that negotiation, he could have given the banks 70 cents on the dollar and not threatened the financial system. But he was terrorized by the other side and caved in like a bbeeeehotcha gotcha