2.5 Billion for wrecking the U.S. economy? How much would they get for leaving the world economy in a smoking ruin? Would they get an extra bonus if they managed to extinguish the Sun?
My arithmetic isn't nearly as good as that of a Wall Street wizard, but I make that $250,000 per 'worker'.
Let me take a stab in the dark and guess that those at the top, who made all the catastrophic decisions, will be getting a rather more generous slice of that pie than those down the food chain.
The CEO and Board there must be as incompetent and corrupt as the ones at Lehmans. What odds that the only staff Barclays are keen to retain are the ones that sent this bank nosediving into almost extinction!
Pathetic really.
gordon Gekko is alive and well - and supporting the Republicans for sure!
2.5 Billion for wrecking the U.S. economy? How much would they get for leaving the world economy in a smoking ruin? Would they get an extra bonus if they managed to extinguish the Sun?
lol ...... very likely, though the sun would be a hard one, nuclear winter on earth would have (much) the same effect, and Bush and his minions are working nicely on that one.
Mon, 09/22/2008 - 20:20 — Red Headed StepChild (not verified)
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
My arithmetic isn't nearly as good as that of a Wall Street wizard, but I make that $250,000 per 'worker'.
Let me take a stab in the dark and guess that those at the top, who made all the catastrophic decisions, will be getting a rather more generous slice of that pie than those down the food chain.
Indeed, it's 10's of millions for the ones at the top.
not that i'm defending them, but there are plenty of different divisions the company that weren't insolvent.
they could have had part of the bonus as a contractual obligation and such. so, even if the company goes under then the employees get paid first. at $2.5 billion for 10,000 workers, that's $250,000 per person and could be almost their entire salary.
again, i'm not defending them. it might be a really OK kinda thing if the employees are getting paid.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
It makes little difference now either way, as far as the world is concerned the election will be a reflection of how america is dealt with as it slides down, is it helped or let fall hard for it's ignorance and greed.
As with any election, it's a test of the people not the individuals running.
On Sunday's "This Week" Cokie Roberts said something about marching these CEO's and execs down Wall Street in burlap sacks. I hope Cokie Roberts steps up the plate and leads this effort.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
does it hurt when you use sandpaper for toilet paper?
then don't ask us to for a total lose as mcfuckhead.
My arithmetic isn't nearly as good as that of a Wall Street wizard, but I make that $250,000 per 'worker'.
Let me take a stab in the dark and guess that those at the top, who made all the catastrophic decisions, will be getting a rather more generous slice of that pie than those down the food chain.
Indeed, it's 10's of millions for the ones at the top.
I would guess the minions in financial companies get paid 50K pa and pay 35% tax on that, then they get the top up bonus of say 100K and only pay 15% tax on that part.
Its a crafty way to avoid paying proper taxes on income.
Year ago I worked for a small comapny, the boss paid himself and his wife 10K per year, then took dividend on 500,000 company income.
They saved a fortune in taxes.
As I keep saying -as a condition for this bailout to happen all upper management should first be canned - no golden parachutes - also we should not accept this 700 quadzillion amount without question. They should have to qualify every penny before they get it. If the government ran their finances like most homeowners run their checkbooks we wouldn't be in this mess. It was run like our crazy uncle luke down by the river (no offense) runs his finances. I am almost thinking - let it happen - perhaps the shrieks are only for what will happen to that top 1%. What really - I mean really - will happen if we just let them boil in their own cauldren. how much worse would it be than the alternative?
That comes to meager $250,000 average for each sweetiepie.
$900,000 salary for Freddie Mac CEO
The seized lender's new chief executive, David Moffett, will receive base pay that is 25% lower than his predecessor.
With 52 weeks/ 5 days/week 7hrs/day, poor David makes only $3,500/day, or, ~$60 for a 5 minutes bathroom break.
.
- Republicans who complain the most about socialism turn out to be socialists?
- Republicans who rail against and the sanctity of marriage turn out to be gay or of many marriages?
- Republicans who want to spread "freedom and democracy" engage in religious discrimination, wiretapping, torture and build secret prisons?
- Republicans who claim the most love for their country also have the most hate the constitution and its legal safeguards?
Well not really that funny. You damn fool republicans, I can't wait to see what piece of ideological dog crap dogma will replace common sense in the months ahead as you bring the full force of stupid to another crisis.
{ Deleted, Please do not advocate violence here. Not in any form. SiteMonitor}
Not even drownings in barrels of boogers? { No, Not even drowning in barrels of boogers. I have to say, This was pretty funny. And thoroughly disgusting.SiteMonitor}
this crisis isn't just from people not paying their
mortgage. they had a sophisticated betting system on these loans....they don't talk about it. they're placing
a lot of blame on the public my understanding it's
much more complicated than that.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
McCain would croak after a few months, possibly in the act of blowing up the earth. If not Sarah would be all over that button within minutes.
this must be some type of bad joke - if there is a money trust conspiring to swindle the average joe then they must be just laughing themselves off of their pile of money as they prepare to put the taxpayer on the hook for another 3/4 trillion smackers
Sept. 23: As pressure builds for Congress to act on the ailing economy, some Republicans hope to benefit by blaming the Democratic majority for the cost of the bailout. Congressman Barney Frank discusses on Countdown.
I've been in a few large email chains in which friends of friends are wall streeters and Randian Libertarians who look at this crisis as confirmation of their beliefs. Some are using the Rumsfeld "bad apples" approach and suggesting there were a few bad traders. Others are using the Fixxed Noise approach and spinning deregulation on it's head by suggesting that this happened due to forcing lenders to lend to "minorities" (the connotation hear of the word is so offensive and so 1859, like if you are a minority you are 3/5th of a person), and yet others are preaching that there is no problem, just a market "correcting itself".
How sad is it to see intelligent people cling to their belief system in order to justify their salary (at this point why else would they be drinking the poison)? At least admit your motives. These people most be so envious of Paulson right now, one of their own getting to throw $700 to his friends.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
McCain would croak after a few months, possibly in the act of blowing up the earth. If not Sarah would be all over that button within minutes.
and either of them would exume falwell and put him on the supreme court.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
Well, he might say more than Thomas.
McCain would croak after a few months, possibly in the act of blowing up the earth. If not Sarah would be all over that button within minutes.
and either of them would exume falwell and put him on the supreme court.
Thanks for a good link - good text, refers to CRA (Community Reinvestment Act), which encouraged risky lending, especially after 2005 CHANGES, which absolved lenders from meeting the 3-Part lending test, save for the over $1BLN group. The Clinton invented regulation originally required all lenders above $250MLN to meet the same 3-part test.
It seems very clear we have to go BACK to the laws and regulatory enforcement from ~ 1977, and earlier. Once the bastards started to DEREGULATE, it was the beginning of the END we are witnessing now.
Should the current BAILOUT plan prevail, in ANY form, the only question is what the bailout legislation will be named.
It has to be a name containing an adjective such as "Patriot" or "Homeland" so that anyone who disagrees with all or any portion of the bill can automatically be branded a traitor who does not love America.
it wasn't the actual loans it was the 'betting' on whether
or NOT the loans would fail. it's called the 'shadow
financial system'...they also bet on which way the interest rate will go
But the Enron loophole was small potatoes compared to the devastation that unregulated swaps would unleash. Credit default swaps are essentially insurance policies covering the losses on securities in the event of a default. Financial institutions buy them to protect themselves if an investment they hold goes south. It's like bookies trading bets, with banks and hedge funds gambling on whether an investment (say, a pile of subprime mortgages bundled into a security) will succeed or fail. Because of the swap-related provisions of Gramm's bill—which were supported by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury secretary Larry Summers—a $62 trillion market (nearly four times the size of the entire US stock market) remained utterly unregulated, meaning no one made sure the banks and hedge funds had the assets to cover the losses they guaranteed.
In essence, Wall Street's biggest players (which, thanks to Gramm's earlier banking deregulation efforts, now incorporated everything from your checking account to your pension fund) ran a secret casino. "Tens of trillions of dollars of transactions were done in the dark," says University of San Diego law professor Frank Partnoy, an expert on financial markets and derivatives. "No one had a picture of where the risks were flowing." Betting on the risk of any given transaction became more important—and more lucrative—than the transactions themselves, Partnoy notes: "So there was more betting on the riskiest subprime mortgages than there were actual mortgages." Banks and hedge funds, notes Michael Greenberger, who directed the CFTC's division of trading and markets in the late 1990s, "were betting the subprimes would pay off and they would not need the capital to support their bets."
This story is wrongly reported. The accurate reports are referenced at nakedcapitalism.
The $2.5 billion retention and bonus pool is reserved by Barclays, conveniently in London, for 8 superbankers and 200 necessary personnel. The ten thousand employees are being stiffed by Lehman Brothers Holding Co. Check this
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy document filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc says that Barclays has identified eight individuals out of the New York staff of 10,000 who are vital to make the deal succeed and a further 200 who are identified as “key”. It is thought that these eight directors will be locked into two-year contracts worth between $10m and $25m a year.
and stiffing the 10,000 employees' pension plan, "Lehman Brothers in Britain collapsed with a mammoth £100 million black hole in its staff pension fund"
$2.5 Billion divided by 10,000 = $250,000 average payout
Not bad for a bunch of people who drove their company into bankruptcy.
I know a woman in her 70s who lost several thousand $$ of her retirement nest egg on Lehman shares. Why the hell isn't she getting a piece of this 'bonus pool'?
O' ye of large hooters, whose heaving burdens thou must carry, thou shall be chastised for your wicked greed and deceit. Do you not know that the bimbo will not inherit the kingdom of God? Thou have caused eternal suffering for those men of Republicstine, for they shall commit immoral sins against their own body as they bear witness upon your unholy mounds.
September 23rd, 2008
From CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (CNN) — The Bridge to Nowhere may have been shelved. But the Road to Nowhere is alive and well.
The proposed $400 million span that would have connected the coastal city of Ketchikan to its airport on Gravina Island died after it became a symbol of congressional excess. But the three-mile access road on the island is ready for residents to take that ride to nowhere — paid for by some of the $223 million in federal funding that sparked ridicule among opponents of congressional “pork-barrel” spending.
In stump speeches, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has touted her eventual decision to abandon the Gravina Island bridge, which she initially supported. But Palin, now the Republican vice presidential candidate, let the access road go ahead because the contract to build it already had been signed, a campaign aide said.
I really, really hate to say this. Especially here.
If their contract pays a bonus, and by the term of the contract the person is due a bonus, the firm has to give it unless the worker renegotiates. At least they are following the law in that respect.
Still, if any of these people had any morals at all they'd just take a walk and join the unemployment line like the rest of us once the depression hits.
i didn't think bankruptcy was supposed to work like this.
Oh when it is the Privileged Bankruptcy, that's how they roll. But if you are poor and and can't make your mortgage and bills, you have to be humiliated and take credit conselling to qualified to file for bankruptcy and have you credit be ruined for 10 years. And who ever said life is fair? Not the rich folks that's for damn sure.
Maybe these Wall Street tycoons should get the treatment given in India.
Corporate India is in shock after a mob of workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who sacked them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.
Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, a manufacturer of car parts that has its headquarters in Italy, died of severe head wounds on Monday after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said
I really, really hate to say this. Especially here.
If their contract pays a bonus, and by the term of the contract the person is due a bonus, the firm has to give it unless the worker renegotiates. At least they are following the law in that respect.
Still, if any of these people had any morals at all they'd just take a walk and join the unemployment line like the rest of us once the depression hits.
It isn't that clear cut - if they are under a court order, employees line up with everyone else waiting to get paid. The bankruptcy court sorts it out. Ask anyone who got burned during the dot com years. Many people lost months of salaried pay, all under contract. It would be highly irregular for a BK company that can't service its debts to hand out $2.5B bonus (especially if it is on top of salary) to employees but nothing surprises me anymore. If this story is true it will have far reaching, negative consequences for republicans.
- Republicans who complain the most about socialism turn out to be socialists?
- Republicans who rail against and the sanctity of marriage turn out to be gay or of many marriages?
- Republicans who want to spread "freedom and democracy" engage in religious discrimination, wiretapping, torture and build secret prisons?
- Republicans who claim the most love for their country also have the most hate the constitution and its legal safeguards?
Well not really that funny. You damn fool republicans, I can't wait to see what piece of ideological dog crap dogma will replace common sense in the months ahead as you bring the full force of stupid to another crisis.
This puts me in mind of Bill Maher's response to those on the right who echo Reagan's mantra that government is bad: "Well, sure it's bad, the way those idiots run it!"
Thanks for a good link - good text, refers to CRA (Community Reinvestment Act), which encouraged risky lending, especially after 2005 CHANGES, which absolved lenders from meeting the 3-Part lending test, save for the over $1BLN group. The Clinton invented regulation originally required all lenders above $250MLN to meet the same 3-part test.
It seems very clear we have to go BACK to the laws and regulatory enforcement from ~ 1977, and earlier. Once the bastards started to DEREGULATE, it was the beginning of the END we are witnessing now.
Should the current BAILOUT plan prevail, in ANY form, the only question is what the bailout legislation will be named.
It has to be a name containing an adjective such as "Patriot" or "Homeland" so that anyone who disagrees with all or any portion of the bill can automatically be branded a traitor who does not love America.
Indeed. Yet this faux "emergency" developed so quickly that the Rethug spinners didn't have time to hire the PR firm to properly name it.
How about "Homeland Payday Advance" or has that already been taken?
I really, really hate to say this. Especially here.
If their contract pays a bonus, and by the term of the contract the person is due a bonus, the firm has to give it unless the worker renegotiates. At least they are following the law in that respect.
Still, if any of these people had any morals at all they'd just take a walk and join the unemployment line like the rest of us once the depression hits.
But bonuses are discretionary payments, paid out of profit. Lehman ran up billions in losses and is bankrupt. Its assets, including cash reserves, are insufficient to pay its debts. How can it pay bonuses at all?
I read somewhere that bonuses are still on the agenda because some parts of the firm are going concerns, and the staff has to be retained to work under the new owners that are negotiating to buy parts of Lehman. Fair enough - but in that case, let the new owners pay bonuses, if they want to retain these valuable employees. What's left of Lehman's cash from its operations as an independent company should go to debtors and shareholders.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
This is the most illogical statement I have heard or read today. How about we just all say ENOUGH and "thanks but no thanks" to the crap currently being served up by the fascist reich. I think that would accomplish a lot more. You need a spine transplant, Mr.
They broke it, let them fix it with their bonus funds and their assets! The people who have to work all week to make ends meet should not have to pay for Wall Street profiteers and robber baron mistakes! Why on earth should any average blue collar worker feel sorry for these overpaid crooks?
not that i'm defending them, but there are plenty of different divisions the company that weren't insolvent.
they could have had part of the bonus as a contractual obligation and such. so, even if the company goes under then the employees get paid first. at $2.5 billion for 10,000 workers, that's $250,000 per person and could be almost their entire salary.
again, i'm not defending them. it might be a really OK kinda thing if the employees are getting paid.
Huh, the only "division" that was actually acquired by other parties were their data centers. The rest of their portfolio was deemed "worthless" by the banks looking to purchase Lehman Bros.
I still want to know what chris dodd heard in that meeting that made him and schumer start to crow so loudly for throwing money at this disaster.
schumer has a lot of banking money in his coffers.
what's up with dodd?
why does it take only one close-door meeting and the democrats scream the need to agree with boosh? Is it Anthrax?
.
Good question that I was also asking from another angle: how about if this is NOT any sudden market crash, but another pre-PLANNED step, and idiot-proof manipulation/ execution of delivering America to NWO fascist bastards, as 'demanded' by our sheeple NATION ?
Also, how the repigs would f*** Obama/booby-trap whatever, and what would be the best bitter-pill ? To return repigs into power in 4 years. Screwing the financial systems takes care of ALL that Obama promised - cannot be delivered out of NOTHING.
Additional TRILLIONS of NATIONAL DEBT make sure there is NO WAY for UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE/ INSURANCE, and that current insurance companies will be still destroying us, if not more.
DODD is in the sack with INSURANCE INDUSTRY.They invested well, with BAILOUT (and no funds for Obama's promised universal Health care) he will make sure they will be destroying our nation forever.
Schumer is a sleazy TRAITOR who 'proposed'/sponsored/godfathered MUKASEY for the AG slot, and after a disaster with Gonzo.
WHY ? Because Mukasey, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) protected Schumer's WIFE, Iris Weinshall (then NYC DOT Commissioner, without ANY background to be one !), following the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash that killed 11 passengers, with 70 injured and abt 30-40 maimed (missing limbs, etc). After the deadly crash, Iris Weinshall came under harsh criticism for allowing patronage relationships to compromise the safety of the ferry operations - herself she was hired/appointed by our best friend, Rudy Giuliani, then NYC Mayor (1994-2001), a good friend of Mukasey - SMALL WORLD !!
When Giuliani was leaving the NYC Mayor's position, he asked Bloomberg to keep his 2 high level aparatchicks on NYC payroll - one of these two was Schumer's wife. She was NEVER even interviewed in connection with 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash, although she was TOTALLY NEGLIGENT as a DOT Commissioner: she had NO idea abt anything re: ferry, there were NO operating procedures, EVER !! The accident resulted in scores of lawsuits against the NYC. As of September 2008, the city had paid $54.3 MLN to the victims and their families, with other lawsuits pending. Once the lawsuits were allowed to proceed, in 2007 Schumer's wife was moved to be a vice chancellor at the City University of New York - getting her between $50,000 to $70,000/year more than during the Ferry crash ! ($250,000-300,000/year). Plus NYC paid cars, personal protection/security, etc.. She never works Fridays, as they are orthodox Jews.
Her bios all over the intertubes have been SCRUBBED extensively, you have one big poem abt NYC POTHOLES she warred with, plus bike-path tearjerkers. No mention anymore abt her being involved with Rudy's WTC7 'BUNKER" - as a Deputy Commissioner in other NYC depts SHE must have signed the applications/permits/drawings/whatever else paperwork related - NYC bldg Codes ban having ANY diesel operated facility(as emergency systems ARE) in any human-occupied building, the more so a highrise. Yet Giuliani did it, to load TAXPAYERS' money into Larry Silverstein's pockets. Bipartisan for sure !!!
Both Schumers make very COMFY living OFF the TAXPAYERS, all their lives!! LEACHES galore ! Never mind the people.
God, just how dumb do refuklicans think we are? Lehman Bros dates back to 1850~! Merril Lynch 1914~! They survived world wars, depression, global catastrophes and in less than 8 years of the Bush/McCain Doctrine they are wiped off the earth! This is a stunning achievement in reckless greed and malfeasance - where is the DNC attack? This is simply an incredible indictment of Neo-conservatism! And nearly 50% of Americans still want more??? Are lobotomies on sale at Walmart?
The CEO and Board there must be as incompetent and corrupt as the ones at Lehmans. What odds that the only staff Barclays are keen to retain are the ones that sent this bank nosediving into almost extinction!
Pathetic really.
gordon Gekko is alive and well - and supporting the Republicans for sure!
According to Digby, Barclays is paying 1.75 billion for Lehman. One of the assets Barclays is purchasing is the 2.5 billion bonus fund. This allows Barclays to pay all of the Lehman employees that Barclays wants to keep without costing the bank any more money. If the 2.5 billion were not available, then Lehman would be worth ... maybe ... $20? The purchase money is going to pay some of Lehman's creditors.
It's not unreasonably for Barclays to require access to the bonus funds as a condition of the purchase. If the bonus funds do represent a significant portion of Lehman employee salaries, it's also not unreasonable for these funds to be excluded from bankruptcy proceedings.
WTF? Did you read the article you linked to? The victim, Lalit Choudhary, had the guts to offer to meet with "more than a hundred former employees" ... "to discuss a possible reinstatement deal." He was beaten to death by a small number of people, some of who may have had no connection to his country.
The moral of this story appears to be - never discuss possible reinstatement with former employees in Bombay, just screw them over and make no effort to reach a deal. Wow ... that's the diplomatic model the current administration uses.
It's time for a revolution .# 63 , it's no problem for them , they've been doing that for years , it's routine , greed is the only " virtue " these people know .
Mon, 09/22/2008 - 23:58 — gus smith (not verified)
You know, when the house is nearing foreclosure, there is no food, the car died and the main providers to the household have lost their job, the kids just don't get their allowance.
WTF? Did you read the article you linked to? The victim, Lalit Choudhary, had the guts to offer to meet with "more than a hundred former employees" ... "to discuss a possible reinstatement deal." He was beaten to death by a small number of people, some of who may have had no connection to his country.
The moral of this story appears to be - never discuss possible reinstatement with former employees in Bombay, just screw them over and make no effort to reach a deal. Wow ... that's the diplomatic model the current administration uses.
LOL, Americans and their gullibility.
In this fucking place, as long as you try to look polite when you fuck some body... you get to be the victim.
If my tax dollars are going to pay 2.5 billion in bonuses for a bunch of gangsters in designer suits, I'd would also like to spend an extra hundred bollars for bullets, so that the People can put these social parasites up against the wall and machine gun them.
WTF? Did you read the article you linked to? The victim, Lalit Choudhary, had the guts to offer to meet with "more than a hundred former employees" ... "to discuss a possible reinstatement deal." He was beaten to death by a small number of people, some of who may have had no connection to his country.
The moral of this story appears to be - never discuss possible reinstatement with former employees in Bombay, just screw them over and make no effort to reach a deal. Wow ... that's the diplomatic model the current administration uses.
LOL, Americans and their gullibility.
In this fucking place, as long as you try to look polite when you fuck some body... you get to be the victim.
No...when you get literally beaten to death by a mob, then you're the victim. Twit.
The people responsible for this cluster-f**k from each bank were fired over a year ago. Everyone else is doing there best to clean after those criminals. Most people who work in finance have nothing at all to do with this crisis, and to be worth anything to Barclays, they need these people to stay and keep running the (otherwise) successful business they were running. As it is, they're losing their good people FAST.
Tue, 09/23/2008 - 07:51 — american in holland (not verified)
If the people start grumbling too loudly about the failures of capitalism, I'm sure some catastrophic security event will shock them back into submission.
The CEO and Board there must be as incompetent and corrupt as the ones at Lehmans. What odds that the only staff Barclays are keen to retain are the ones that sent this bank nosediving into almost extinction!
Pathetic really.
gordon Gekko is alive and well - and supporting the Republicans for sure!
A lot of people don't realize that Barcap is composed mostly of ex Lehman employees anyway. It's a reunion if anything
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Living the american dream .........
Really appreciate Digby. Just more reasons to keep CALLING, EMAILING OUR REPS. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON! No blank checks.
Eat the Rich.
{ Deleted, Please do not advocate violence here. Not in any form. SiteMonitor}
http://www.votenobailout.org/
2.5 Billion for wrecking the U.S. economy? How much would they get for leaving the world economy in a smoking ruin? Would they get an extra bonus if they managed to extinguish the Sun?
My arithmetic isn't nearly as good as that of a Wall Street wizard, but I make that $250,000 per 'worker'.
Let me take a stab in the dark and guess that those at the top, who made all the catastrophic decisions, will be getting a rather more generous slice of that pie than those down the food chain.
just sold all my shares in Barclays Bank!
The CEO and Board there must be as incompetent and corrupt as the ones at Lehmans. What odds that the only staff Barclays are keen to retain are the ones that sent this bank nosediving into almost extinction!
Pathetic really.
gordon Gekko is alive and well - and supporting the Republicans for sure!
Ken @ 6:
lol ...... very likely, though the sun would be a hard one, nuclear winter on earth would have (much) the same effect, and Bush and his minions are working nicely on that one.
I'm almost ready to vote for McCain. Why should Obama spend the next 4 years fixing all these problems, while having no money to actually do anything? You know if Obama is president, it will be a one-term presidency because he will take all the blame for this country's problems for the next 4 years.
Fuck it. Let McCain deal with it. If McCain is president, it will be the end of the Republican party for a long, long time.
redsaunas @ 7:
Indeed, it's 10's of millions for the ones at the top.
not that i'm defending them, but there are plenty of different divisions the company that weren't insolvent.
they could have had part of the bonus as a contractual obligation and such. so, even if the company goes under then the employees get paid first. at $2.5 billion for 10,000 workers, that's $250,000 per person and could be almost their entire salary.
again, i'm not defending them. it might be a really OK kinda thing if the employees are getting paid.
and this is just exactly where ALL $700 BILLION
they are asking for will go
into the pockets of these F#CKING BASTARDS POCKETS
Red Headed StepChild @ 10:
It makes little difference now either way, as far as the world is concerned the election will be a reflection of how america is dealt with as it slides down, is it helped or let fall hard for it's ignorance and greed.
As with any election, it's a test of the people not the individuals running.
On Sunday's "This Week" Cokie Roberts said something about marching these CEO's and execs down Wall Street in burlap sacks. I hope Cokie Roberts steps up the plate and leads this effort.
They don't deserve a bail out. Not time, No how, No Way.
oh yeah McCain the "de regulator
Great clips
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/23/john-mccain-the-fundament_n_128...
i didn't think bankruptcy was supposed to work like this.
Red Headed StepChild @ 10:
does it hurt when you use sandpaper for toilet paper?
then don't ask us to for a total lose as mcfuckhead.
White House Admits It Drew Up Bailout Months Ago...
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/09/white-house-admits-it-drew...
Jerry @ 11:
I would guess the minions in financial companies get paid 50K pa and pay 35% tax on that, then they get the top up bonus of say 100K and only pay 15% tax on that part.
Its a crafty way to avoid paying proper taxes on income.
Year ago I worked for a small comapny, the boss paid himself and his wife 10K per year, then took dividend on 500,000 company income.
They saved a fortune in taxes.
That is fucking awesome.
As I keep saying -as a condition for this bailout to happen all upper management should first be canned - no golden parachutes - also we should not accept this 700 quadzillion amount without question. They should have to qualify every penny before they get it. If the government ran their finances like most homeowners run their checkbooks we wouldn't be in this mess. It was run like our crazy uncle luke down by the river (no offense) runs his finances. I am almost thinking - let it happen - perhaps the shrieks are only for what will happen to that top 1%. What really - I mean really - will happen if we just let them boil in their own cauldren. how much worse would it be than the alternative?
That comes to meager $250,000 average for each sweetiepie.
$900,000 salary for Freddie Mac CEO
The seized lender's new chief executive, David Moffett, will receive base pay that is 25% lower than his predecessor.
With 52 weeks/ 5 days/week 7hrs/day, poor David makes only $3,500/day, or, ~$60 for a 5 minutes bathroom break.
.
$521,000: The average pay of Goldman Sachs employees and that includes secretaries
And, Goldman Sachs to Raise $7.5 Billion, With $5 Billion From Buffett
Gotta pay for that 7000.00 a month apartment. i wouldn't
be surprised if many thought the whole thing was
funny.
Isn't it funny that -
- Republicans who complain the most about socialism turn out to be socialists?
- Republicans who rail against and the sanctity of marriage turn out to be gay or of many marriages?
- Republicans who want to spread "freedom and democracy" engage in religious discrimination, wiretapping, torture and build secret prisons?
- Republicans who claim the most love for their country also have the most hate the constitution and its legal safeguards?
Well not really that funny. You damn fool republicans, I can't wait to see what piece of ideological
dog crapdogma will replace common sense in the months ahead as you bring the full force of stupid to another crisis.JUST SAY NO!
Pershingwarrior @ 4:
Not even drownings in barrels of boogers?
{ No, Not even drowning in barrels of boogers. I have to say, This was pretty funny. And thoroughly disgusting.SiteMonitor}
this crisis isn't just from people not paying their
mortgage. they had a sophisticated betting system on these loans....they don't talk about it. they're placing
a lot of blame on the public my understanding it's
much more complicated than that.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html
What does the "Financial Services" sector produce?
Can we eat it?
Can we drink it?
Can we live in it?
Can we wear it?
WHAT USE ARE THEY?
Except to play dangerous games with our economy?
It's bad enough that they are USELESS EATERS .. LEECHES on the backs of those of us who work for a living ..
But to reward their GREED and INCOMPETENCE is INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
Time to bring back the guillotine.
Red Headed StepChild @ 10:
McCain would croak after a few months, possibly in the act of blowing up the earth. If not Sarah would be all over that button within minutes.
this must be some type of bad joke - if there is a money trust conspiring to swindle the average joe then they must be just laughing themselves off of their pile of money as they prepare to put the taxpayer on the hook for another 3/4 trillion smackers
THIS must end!
and I bet it will not
Sept. 23: As pressure builds for Congress to act on the ailing economy, some Republicans hope to benefit by blaming the Democratic majority for the cost of the bailout. Congressman Barney Frank discusses on Countdown.
I've been in a few large email chains in which friends of friends are wall streeters and Randian Libertarians who look at this crisis as confirmation of their beliefs. Some are using the Rumsfeld "bad apples" approach and suggesting there were a few bad traders. Others are using the Fixxed Noise approach and spinning deregulation on it's head by suggesting that this happened due to forcing lenders to lend to "minorities" (the connotation hear of the word is so offensive and so 1859, like if you are a minority you are 3/5th of a person), and yet others are preaching that there is no problem, just a market "correcting itself".
How sad is it to see intelligent people cling to their belief system in order to justify their salary (at this point why else would they be drinking the poison)? At least admit your motives. These people most be so envious of Paulson right now, one of their own getting to throw $700 to his friends.
Abraham Jackemoff @ 32:
and either of them would exume falwell and put him on the supreme court.
This has Bush and Cheney written all over it....
It is plain ol' U.S.of A type cut-throat capitalism, I guess! Who else is paying attention to this mess?
Here's some that are finding out what it's like dealing with Republican Fatcats and high-paid minions.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/3053836/Financial-crisis-Lehman-Broth...
Church Lady Does Washington @ 26:
Sanctity of marriage: you forgot the part about forcing married couples with sick kids to get divorced so they can get health care.
As for the other stuff, well, I'll just quote from my favorite (albeit corny) movie Seven Days In May.
Scott: "Nobody needs to teach me how to salute a flag!"
Lyman: "Somebody needs to teach you about the democratic process' that flag represents!"
I still want to know what chris dodd heard in that meeting that made him and schumer start to crow so loudly for throwing money at this disaster.
schumer has a lot of banking money in his coffers.
what's up with dodd?
why does it take only one close-door meeting and the democrats scream the need to agree with boosh? Is it Anthrax?
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 37:
sled_dog @ 27:
Thanks for a good link - good text, refers to CRA (Community Reinvestment Act), which encouraged risky lending, especially after 2005 CHANGES, which absolved lenders from meeting the 3-Part lending test, save for the over $1BLN group. The Clinton invented regulation originally required all lenders above $250MLN to meet the same 3-part test.
It seems very clear we have to go BACK to the laws and regulatory enforcement from ~ 1977, and earlier. Once the bastards started to DEREGULATE, it was the beginning of the END we are witnessing now.
Should the current BAILOUT plan prevail, in ANY form, the only question is what the bailout legislation will be named.
It has to be a name containing an adjective such as "Patriot" or "Homeland" so that anyone who disagrees with all or any portion of the bill can automatically be branded a traitor who does not love America.
it wasn't the actual loans it was the 'betting' on whether
or NOT the loans would fail. it's called the 'shadow
financial system'...they also bet on which way the interest rate will go
But the Enron loophole was small potatoes compared to the devastation that unregulated swaps would unleash. Credit default swaps are essentially insurance policies covering the losses on securities in the event of a default. Financial institutions buy them to protect themselves if an investment they hold goes south. It's like bookies trading bets, with banks and hedge funds gambling on whether an investment (say, a pile of subprime mortgages bundled into a security) will succeed or fail. Because of the swap-related provisions of Gramm's bill—which were supported by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury secretary Larry Summers—a $62 trillion market (nearly four times the size of the entire US stock market) remained utterly unregulated, meaning no one made sure the banks and hedge funds had the assets to cover the losses they guaranteed.
In essence, Wall Street's biggest players (which, thanks to Gramm's earlier banking deregulation efforts, now incorporated everything from your checking account to your pension fund) ran a secret casino. "Tens of trillions of dollars of transactions were done in the dark," says University of San Diego law professor Frank Partnoy, an expert on financial markets and derivatives. "No one had a picture of where the risks were flowing." Betting on the risk of any given transaction became more important—and more lucrative—than the transactions themselves, Partnoy notes: "So there was more betting on the riskiest subprime mortgages than there were actual mortgages." Banks and hedge funds, notes Michael Greenberger, who directed the CFTC's division of trading and markets in the late 1990s, "were betting the subprimes would pay off and they would not need the capital to support their bets."
This story is wrongly reported. The accurate reports are referenced at nakedcapitalism.
The $2.5 billion retention and bonus pool is reserved by Barclays, conveniently in London, for 8 superbankers and 200 necessary personnel. The ten thousand employees are being stiffed by Lehman Brothers Holding Co. Check this
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy document filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc says that Barclays has identified eight individuals out of the New York staff of 10,000 who are vital to make the deal succeed and a further 200 who are identified as “key”. It is thought that these eight directors will be locked into two-year contracts worth between $10m and $25m a year.
from http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/key-lehman-employees-to-get-25-bi...
and stiffing the 10,000 employees' pension plan, "Lehman Brothers in Britain collapsed with a mammoth £100 million black hole in its staff pension fund"
from http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_...
also via naked capitalism. Please report this story accurately. It's not 10,000 employees win, it's 10,000 get stiffed by their top management.
$2.5 Billion divided by 10,000 = $250,000 average payout
Not bad for a bunch of people who drove their company into bankruptcy.
I know a woman in her 70s who lost several thousand $$ of her retirement nest egg on Lehman shares. Why the hell isn't she getting a piece of this 'bonus pool'?
O' ye of large hooters, whose heaving burdens thou must carry, thou shall be chastised for your wicked greed and deceit. Do you not know that the bimbo will not inherit the kingdom of God? Thou have caused eternal suffering for those men of Republicstine, for they shall commit immoral sins against their own body as they bear witness upon your unholy mounds.
September 23rd, 2008
From CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (CNN) — The Bridge to Nowhere may have been shelved. But the Road to Nowhere is alive and well.
The proposed $400 million span that would have connected the coastal city of Ketchikan to its airport on Gravina Island died after it became a symbol of congressional excess. But the three-mile access road on the island is ready for residents to take that ride to nowhere — paid for by some of the $223 million in federal funding that sparked ridicule among opponents of congressional “pork-barrel” spending.
In stump speeches, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has touted her eventual decision to abandon the Gravina Island bridge, which she initially supported. But Palin, now the Republican vice presidential candidate, let the access road go ahead because the contract to build it already had been signed, a campaign aide said.
I really, really hate to say this. Especially here.
If their contract pays a bonus, and by the term of the contract the person is due a bonus, the firm has to give it unless the worker renegotiates. At least they are following the law in that respect.
Still, if any of these people had any morals at all they'd just take a walk and join the unemployment line like the rest of us once the depression hits.
tr @ 18:
Oh when it is the Privileged Bankruptcy, that's how they roll. But if you are poor and and can't make your mortgage and bills, you have to be humiliated and take credit conselling to qualified to file for bankruptcy and have you credit be ruined for 10 years. And who ever said life is fair? Not the rich folks that's for damn sure.
Maybe these Wall Street tycoons should get the treatment given in India.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4810644.ece
Eric L @ 47:
It isn't that clear cut - if they are under a court order, employees line up with everyone else waiting to get paid. The bankruptcy court sorts it out. Ask anyone who got burned during the dot com years. Many people lost months of salaried pay, all under contract. It would be highly irregular for a BK company that can't service its debts to hand out $2.5B bonus (especially if it is on top of salary) to employees but nothing surprises me anymore. If this story is true it will have far reaching, negative consequences for republicans.
Church Lady Does Washington @ 26:
This puts me in mind of Bill Maher's response to those on the right who echo Reagan's mantra that government is bad: "Well, sure it's bad, the way those idiots run it!"
My cousin works for Lehman. I hope she gets a bonus.
TrePorcellini @ 43:
Indeed. Yet this faux "emergency" developed so quickly that the Rethug spinners didn't have time to hire the PR firm to properly name it.
How about "Homeland Payday Advance" or has that already been taken?
Eric L @ 47:
But bonuses are discretionary payments, paid out of profit. Lehman ran up billions in losses and is bankrupt. Its assets, including cash reserves, are insufficient to pay its debts. How can it pay bonuses at all?
I read somewhere that bonuses are still on the agenda because some parts of the firm are going concerns, and the staff has to be retained to work under the new owners that are negotiating to buy parts of Lehman. Fair enough - but in that case, let the new owners pay bonuses, if they want to retain these valuable employees. What's left of Lehman's cash from its operations as an independent company should go to debtors and shareholders.
Red Headed StepChild @ 10:
This is the most illogical statement I have heard or read today. How about we just all say ENOUGH and "thanks but no thanks" to the crap currently being served up by the fascist reich. I think that would accomplish a lot more. You need a spine transplant, Mr.
They broke it, let them fix it with their bonus funds and their assets! The people who have to work all week to make ends meet should not have to pay for Wall Street profiteers and robber baron mistakes! Why on earth should any average blue collar worker feel sorry for these overpaid crooks?
Daniel @ 12:
Huh, the only "division" that was actually acquired by other parties were their data centers. The rest of their portfolio was deemed "worthless" by the banks looking to purchase Lehman Bros.
The FBI will have a huge case load.
Members of Congress are involved.
They should take the bailout off the table and tell those involved to lawyer up and resign.
They can call the bail bondsmen for a bailout.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has a petition to make sure you don’t get totally screwed by this mess.
Please sign and post as many places as you can. We will not be left holding the bag (of shit)!
http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/?petition=Financial_Crisis_1
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 41:
.
Good question that I was also asking from another angle: how about if this is NOT any sudden market crash, but another pre-PLANNED step, and idiot-proof manipulation/ execution of delivering America to NWO fascist bastards, as 'demanded' by our sheeple NATION ?
Also, how the repigs would f*** Obama/booby-trap whatever, and what would be the best bitter-pill ? To return repigs into power in 4 years. Screwing the financial systems takes care of ALL that Obama promised - cannot be delivered out of NOTHING.
Additional TRILLIONS of NATIONAL DEBT make sure there is NO WAY for UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE/ INSURANCE, and that current insurance companies will be still destroying us, if not more.
DODD is in the sack with INSURANCE INDUSTRY.They invested well, with BAILOUT (and no funds for Obama's promised universal Health care) he will make sure they will be destroying our nation forever.
Schumer is a sleazy TRAITOR who 'proposed'/sponsored/godfathered MUKASEY for the AG slot, and after a disaster with Gonzo.
WHY ? Because Mukasey, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) protected Schumer's WIFE, Iris Weinshall (then NYC DOT Commissioner, without ANY background to be one !), following the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash that killed 11 passengers, with 70 injured and abt 30-40 maimed (missing limbs, etc). After the deadly crash, Iris Weinshall came under harsh criticism for allowing patronage relationships to compromise the safety of the ferry operations - herself she was hired/appointed by our best friend, Rudy Giuliani, then NYC Mayor (1994-2001), a good friend of Mukasey - SMALL WORLD !!
When Giuliani was leaving the NYC Mayor's position, he asked Bloomberg to keep his 2 high level aparatchicks on NYC payroll - one of these two was Schumer's wife. She was NEVER even interviewed in connection with 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash, although she was TOTALLY NEGLIGENT as a DOT Commissioner: she had NO idea abt anything re: ferry, there were NO operating procedures, EVER !! The accident resulted in scores of lawsuits against the NYC. As of September 2008, the city had paid $54.3 MLN to the victims and their families, with other lawsuits pending. Once the lawsuits were allowed to proceed, in 2007 Schumer's wife was moved to be a vice chancellor at the City University of New York - getting her between $50,000 to $70,000/year more than during the Ferry crash ! ($250,000-300,000/year). Plus NYC paid cars, personal protection/security, etc.. She never works Fridays, as they are orthodox Jews.
Her bios all over the intertubes have been SCRUBBED extensively, you have one big poem abt NYC POTHOLES she warred with, plus bike-path tearjerkers. No mention anymore abt her being involved with Rudy's WTC7 'BUNKER" - as a Deputy Commissioner in other NYC depts SHE must have signed the applications/permits/drawings/whatever else paperwork related - NYC bldg Codes ban having ANY diesel operated facility(as emergency systems ARE) in any human-occupied building, the more so a highrise. Yet Giuliani did it, to load TAXPAYERS' money into Larry Silverstein's pockets. Bipartisan for sure !!!
Both Schumers make very COMFY living OFF the TAXPAYERS, all their lives!! LEACHES galore ! Never mind the people.
God, just how dumb do refuklicans think we are? Lehman Bros dates back to 1850~! Merril Lynch 1914~! They survived world wars, depression, global catastrophes and in less than 8 years of the Bush/McCain Doctrine they are wiped off the earth! This is a stunning achievement in reckless greed and malfeasance - where is the DNC attack? This is simply an incredible indictment of Neo-conservatism! And nearly 50% of Americans still want more??? Are lobotomies on sale at Walmart?
bettestreep @ 8:
According to Digby, Barclays is paying 1.75 billion for Lehman. One of the assets Barclays is purchasing is the 2.5 billion bonus fund. This allows Barclays to pay all of the Lehman employees that Barclays wants to keep without costing the bank any more money. If the 2.5 billion were not available, then Lehman would be worth ... maybe ... $20? The purchase money is going to pay some of Lehman's creditors.
It's not unreasonably for Barclays to require access to the bonus funds as a condition of the purchase. If the bonus funds do represent a significant portion of Lehman employee salaries, it's also not unreasonable for these funds to be excluded from bankruptcy proceedings.
Well it's about time!
How can you work at a place that goes broke and still keep a straight face when you accept a bonus?
Kucinich_Nader_Gavel @ 62:
WTF? Did you read the article you linked to? The victim, Lalit Choudhary, had the guts to offer to meet with "more than a hundred former employees" ... "to discuss a possible reinstatement deal." He was beaten to death by a small number of people, some of who may have had no connection to his country.
The moral of this story appears to be - never discuss possible reinstatement with former employees in Bombay, just screw them over and make no effort to reach a deal. Wow ... that's the diplomatic model the current administration uses.
Sorry ... that's some of whom may have had no connection to his *company*.
It's time for a revolution .# 63 , it's no problem for them , they've been doing that for years , it's routine , greed is the only " virtue " these people know .
You know, when the house is nearing foreclosure, there is no food, the car died and the main providers to the household have lost their job, the kids just don't get their allowance.
Well dressed crooks.
Go easy on Hank Paulson - he's a POW - Prisoner of Wealth!
If there ever was cause for armed revolution, this is it.
But Americans are too dumbed down to do anything.
Revolution will make too many Americans late for work.
Bob Roberts @ 66:
LOL, Americans and their gullibility.
In this fucking place, as long as you try to look polite when you fuck some body... you get to be the victim.
250k? For a job well done, of course!
The Taxpayers: "We need help!"
The Chimp: "Screw you."
The Rich: "We need help!"
The Chimp: "Not until you screw me."
The best criminals were suits, because they never get caught or serve real time.
Awesome show. Great job. :-(
If my tax dollars are going to pay 2.5 billion in bonuses for a bunch of gangsters in designer suits, I'd would also like to spend an extra hundred bollars for bullets, so that the People can put these social parasites up against the wall and machine gun them.
Tyler Durden @ 73:
No...when you get literally beaten to death by a mob, then you're the victim. Twit.
The people responsible for this cluster-f**k from each bank were fired over a year ago. Everyone else is doing there best to clean after those criminals. Most people who work in finance have nothing at all to do with this crisis, and to be worth anything to Barclays, they need these people to stay and keep running the (otherwise) successful business they were running. As it is, they're losing their good people FAST.
If the people start grumbling too loudly about the failures of capitalism, I'm sure some catastrophic security event will shock them back into submission.
Whatever happened to the good old days in the 30's when bankers jumped out of skyscraper windows?
Just proves that Mother is half a word.
Steven @ 80:
Sorry, the difference now is that the windows don't open any more.
bettestreep @ 8:
A lot of people don't realize that Barcap is composed mostly of ex Lehman employees anyway. It's a reunion if anything