Rep. Keith Ellison Questions BofA CEO About Using TARP Funds For Lobbying Against Employee Free Choice Act
Remember John's post on banks using bailout monies to continue to lobby and organize against the Employee Free Choice Act? Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) wanted to make sure that BofA CEO Ken Lewis wasn't using our taxpayer dollars to prevent employees from unionizing. And Lewis assured Ellison that he was working in his company's best interests.
What does Ken Lewis mean by "best interest of our company?" To us, a company is not just the executives and shareholders, but its employees, its customers, and its community.
So it's tough to reconcile Lewis' apparent opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act with an internal Bank of America memo about the bill. In that memo, Bank of America admitted the bill would mean:
increased spending power of lower income consumers as this would be a de facto wage and benefit increase.
Let's get this straight: Bank of America admits that the Employee Free Choice Act would raise wages and benefits for consumers, pumping money into our flailing economy. But Bank of America will apparently continue its efforts to fight this bill despite knowing it can help the economy.
Ken Lewis makes $9,803 an hour, while his tellers - those that make Bank of America run - make $10-$15 an hour. A number of Lewis' 247,000 employees lack adequate health coverage and instead depend on state subsidies." While Lewis himself did not take a bonus for last year, Lewis made sure that high level staff still got bonuses even though Bank of America recently announced it was laying off another 35,000 employees.
So, we've got to ask. Is it really in the best interest of "the company" to actively lobby against measures that would improve the lives of very same people that work within the company - or is it just in the best interest of Ken Lewis?
Good question. In fact, Jason Lefkowitz has more on the organizing these bailed-out banks are hatching:
(W)e were alarmed to discover that the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) — the lobbying organization for the banking industry — was organizing a meeting there that would bring together CEOs from several bailed-out banks to coordinate their opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.
It’s no secret that some bankers have been taking taxpayers’ bailout money and using it to keep you from having the power to decide for yourself whether or not to join together in a union with your coworkers. [..]
Given that, when we found out about the bank CEOs’ plans to meet in Florida on the taxpayer’s dime to continue to push this anti-worker agenda, we decided to blow the whistle on their egregious misuse of their bailout funds.
So our Chair, Anna Burger, wrote a letter to FSR President Steve Bartlett (PDF) in which she outlined why the meeting was a bad idea and urged him to reconsider:
The failure of the financial services industry to manage risk has led to the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression. And, while the managers responsible for the meltdown benefit from a taxpayer bailout that soon could exceed one trillion dollars, millions of workers are losing their jobs and many more are losing their retirement savings. At a time when the industry must devote every effort to economic recovery, it is shameful that the Financial Services Roundtable makes lobbying against the right of workers to organize a legislative priority and, worse yet, is using taxpayer-financed TARP subsidies to do so…
The Roundtable’s partisan political priorities are especially disturbing given that your members have so far received the lion’s share of federal bailout funds. According to current data on your website, Roundtable members account for 78 percent of the $256 billion in capital injections so far approved for financial services firms under TARP. In addition to providing the Roundtable with substantial membership dues, TARP recipients are also major contributors to your PAC.
Because making sure bailout funds are spent responsibly is an American issue, not a Democratic or Republican issue, she sent copies of the letter to both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Congressional committees that oversee the banking industry, as well as to Elizabeth Warren, chair of the panel empowered by Congress to provide oversight on the bailout program.
Those leaders listened. [..] However, even as Lewis defended his corporation’s right to spend taxpayer dollars lobbying to restrict your rights, his friends at the Financial Services Roundtable were thinking that maybe having their meeting at a luxurious resort wasn’t the best PR idea after all. On Thursday, FSR announced that it was moving its meeting from Florida to an undisclosed (and presumably more Spartan) location in Washington, D.C.
So that’s a big chunk of your money that’s going to be saved. You’d think that would make bean-counters happy, right? Apparently not the bean-counters at the Wall Street Journal, whose op-ed page this morning blares with condemnations that we restricted the bank CEOs’ free speech rights by having the gall to question how they choose to spend your money
Meanwhile, the NY Times is reporting that these banks are still insolvent and will require even more aid. So let's see if this makes sense: CEOs making well into the seven figures (or more) have run these banking institutions into the ground and not only get to keep their jobs while taking taxpayer money, but are actively organizing to make things worse for their employees and wasting taxpayer dollars on things like five day Superbowl parties but it is we--the lowly non-screwups--being castigated by the WSJ for wondering WTF is going on?
Thassanudder string that has to be attached to TARP and the bailouts, no using taxpayers dollars to lobby the government.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
That would mean no lobbying at all if they receive any funds.
Dollars are fungible once in their system.
And a Rummy good evening to you all!
That is the draconian rules that Washington has placed on nonprofits for years. Let the bankers choke on 'em.
During the congressional hearings, the Bank of America's CEO had the audacity to claim that he is not a captain of industry but rather a mere corporal of industry. I seriously doubt if there are too many corporals of industry who are making anywhere near the salary that Ken Lewis is making nor hold the position of power that Lewis does.
Simply another reason why capitalism, with its executives making about 400 times what the average worker makes in the United States, is a failed system with the lords of industry reaping huge profits off the backs of the poor bastards who sweat and toil in this country.
Rep. Grayson:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com...
And one more VERY important thing....
Here's an update on the TOTAL BULLSHIT REGARDING THE PENTAGON'S "BUDGET"....:
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Tax cuts mean no money for foreign wars.
No money for bases in every state.
No money for the latest wizz-bang toys.
Have the repugs ever had that reply to their economic cure all?
An excellent overview by retired generals of what has to happen with Pentagon spending;
http://www.cdi.org/program/issue/document.cfm...
Otherwise you will not be able to afford your armed forces.
Don't spread it around but just between you and me like, that's what Canada is waiting for.
Then we strike!
I'm going to Hollywood!!
WHEN is the Treasury going to audit the bailed out banks?
When is Congress even going to MENTION the word, the word is AUDIT.
There is fraud afoot and it would behoove the Government on behalf of the taxpayers to do meticulous audits.
The bailed out banks should not be lobbying in any capacity, period!
In fact, since we now have given the two largest MORE than their market caps, they should be nationalized. Ken Lewis should be out of his job.
The Government is completing the fraud.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
nations aiding and abetting the banks, is fairly straight forward. We are all bankrupt. Period. Politicians are all twisting and turning and flopping doing their damndest not to say it. I put a link to an economists view on the Open Thread. He is right. The US alone now owes more than any nation on the globe. It is for all means and purposes, bankrupt. Nobody on the face of the earth can repay over 60 Trillion dollars, when you add in Social Security and Healtcare, which should be added because it is money owing. This entire global monetary system is done. Toast. Kaput.
Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to the New World Order. Sure hope it lives up to the hype.
The wildcard is inflation. There is no way (that I know) to predict exactly how much we will have or what it will mean. Except that if we have runaway inflation or even worse it will horrible.
The apparent experts seem to be saying the likelihood is high.
Runaway-inflation changes the meaning of all previous financial concepts in a society.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Since 2006 when the WH instructed the Treasury to quit publishing the M3 which tallies the dollars in circulation, the stage has been set for crippling inflation.
The presses haven't stopped and all the fiat paper has nothing in the way of tangible assets to back it up.
It's back to gold doubloons, pieces of eight and treasure maps for me.
Arrrr, where's that dang parrot.
Inflation, deflation, stagflation, all will be just side effects. The disease is too big to cure. The entire system is done. What politicians are doing right now, is putting on bandaids so the public doesn't grasp how bad it really is. Oh, lookie here, we just promised to spend a Trillion dollars to give you a job. Here's hoping somebody loans us the money, or your paycheques will bounce. Oh and don't worry, we'll deal with the healthcare and social security debt at a later date.
Want to know how bad it is and what is going to happen in the US? Our socialist healthcare system right now is laying off. There is a shortage of nurses, but they are still laying off. Why? Because they have to cut services and debts in order to pay for our stimulus BS package.
Harper and Count Iggy don't have a clue on where we are headed.
This has been on the horizon for the last couple of years and our PM with the PhD Econ. spouted the same line as the repugs.
'Tax cuts, tax cuts. Look I saved you $100/yr at the cost of balancing the books.'
The PCoC were betting on oil staying high so the hardcore westerners could put the screws to Ontario and Quebec.
It seems to have backfired on the idiots, we're all going down together.
Whatever happens south of the border will affect us about 4 times as deep and the lag before any positive uptick will be about 18 months after their recovery.
When the green runs red, grow your own green, Red.
Plant a garden, arrange a local community barter system, look out for your neighbours. Check out Monkeyfister.
We're all in this together.
Oh Yeah.
One more thing.
Keep your stick on the ice!
Hope no 'Mericans were watching. These things can get ugly. Wanna beer?
in mass numbers. A nation who's citizens pride themselves in their healthcare, are witnessing hospitals "closing beds" and laying off staff, to cut costs to pay for stupid "infastructure" (usually cronyism...remember Jean Chretien's canoe factory?) and future promises to only increase spending in small percentages (taxcuts).
Whatever Uncle Sam's politicians f*ck up, usually our politicians follow suit adn f*ck up even worse.
gotta hand it these guys, using OUR own money to keep us down. If screwing people over was an Olympic sport, these guys would all have a gold medal hanging from their necks.
Set up an account for each bail out entity. And when they want to spend some money, they drop by and ask for said sum, and a detailed explantion as to what it's for, and then, if approved, they get it, sort of like a loan. Then each withdrawal is monitored and checked. I know, it's simple and probably won't work, but I'd throw this out there. Of course you'd have to trust the government to be transparent with the approvals, so no this wouldn't happen.
absolutely not! That is just way to reasonable and fair.
I haven't heard one word on whether or not the regulations that were lifted, that got us into this mess, have been put back.
that the whores in congress know on which side their bread is buttered.
And it isn't our side.
Justice is not only blind, she is speechless. Our government is killing her.
Any coprorate CEO, be his/her company publically or privately owned, should not be allowed, by law, to earn more than 50 times the minimum hourly wage received on that corporation's payroll, if they accept government bail out support.
For instance, if the lowest paid worker receives $7.50/hr (minimum wage) and works a standard 40/hr week,($7.50 x 40hrs x 52wks=$15,600/yr), the company's CEO should be restricted to an annual remuneration of $780,000 (50 x $15,600).
In addition, a CEO's annual bonus should always be based upon profitability, and, not ever be allowed to exceed 150% of his/her annual salary ($780,000 x150%) or $1,120,000. In conjunction, the lowest paid employees (and all others on the corporation's payroll) should be entitled to receive, by percentage, an amount equivolent to 1/40th of the CEO's salary based bonus, as a bonus (150% of $15,600 = /yr)or $23,400.
The rationale behind this law is rooted in the notion that the corporate bonus system has been historically justified as a means by which corporations might limit bonuses paid, as a percent of payroll, during hard times but increase annual incomes for salaried staff in good times.
Needless to say, government has become each corporation's "safety valve" in times of fiscal need, so the bonus system no longer serves its intended purpose. The rules must now be changed to ensure that every employee, from top to bottom, enjoys the same benefits and privilages. It is only fair. If a CEO cannot get by on $1,900,000 in compensation why would he/she expect that the lowest paid employee can get by on anything less than $39,000/yr?
Plus, it puts bottom up pressure on corporate boards to deploy rational compensation programs that benefit all proportionally.
How ANYONE is worth 50 times more than somebody else is beyond me.
It's time the United States joined the more progressive nations of the world and restricted the pay of the top dog in any corporation to no more than 5 times that of the lowest paid employee. Don't like it, overstuffed capitalist pig? Tough. You're fired.
It was once done with tax rate of 91% for the top dawgs.
Hey, I'm all for that, after all I'm an apiarist.
MMAAYYBBEE 20 times more - TOPS - for their skills.
It's why it's SO DISGUSTING that Rush Limpdick gets paid what he does TO FUCK UP OUR DEMOCRACY.
Employees should elect the people who run their corporations. Most of America's CEO's and other corporate muckety-mucks are worthless, obsolete pigs. The state of our economy proves it.
of monster profits, and corporations still don't have any cash leftover to cover their own bills for a month (GM). What's that tell you right there?
Corporations are just a means to an end now.
Gone is the venerable institution in business since 19XX.
The name might be a salable commodity for branding purposes but the infrastructure is volatile.
They are cash cows to be milked dry and discarded.
Watch what the vulture capitalists at Cerebus do to Chrysler soon.
1. Transfer anything of value to a company 'A'; prime real estate, the lines making a profit, R&D facilities that are above water, etc.
2. Next, roll the rest into a big ball of losers, company 'B', then beg, borrow and mortgage it to the hilt.
3. Transfer every last possible penny from 'B' to 'A'.
Now comes the payoff for their financial wizardry.
4. Declare company 'B' bankrupt and walk away leaving shattered lives, fortunes and futures of those invested in it.
5. Sell the cash rich and profitable company 'A' to the highest bidder.
6. Retire to the Bahamas or what seems like a pathological behaviour with these guys cause you can never have enough, repeat on the next corp in their sights.
And Rush et al tell us this is the best economic system ever.
Rape and pillage are the present day watchwords.
Ruined financiers committing desperate acts
Facing financial ruin, some attempt suicide, others run from the law
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29195955/
The only difference is, this time the debt is monstrous, and there is no manufacturing. Yikes. I'm growing a monster garden this year because by next fall, I won't be able to afford to eat.
& let God sort 'em out!
Pages in category "Bank of America legacy banks"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bank_of...
In the belly of this beast is our Nations 2nd oldest bank aka (The Bank of Massachusetts, founded in 1784 in Boston, Massachusetts,)
Scanning the activities of these constantly morphing capitalist is like trying to understand the IRS Tax Code!
List of bank mergers in the United States [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bank_mer... ]
Some people with strong interests in BOA include:
Bank of New York Mellon Corp 65,284,687 1.30
Morgan Stanley 58,081,288 1.16
JP Morgan Chase & Co 54,816,605 1.09
One of their largest shareholders is > Temasek Holdings is an investment company that is owned by the government of Singapore. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temasek_Holdings
I've noticed that our Federal Reserve has acted at times as decider/judge in allowing mergers. [The dam Fed is deciding??]!
We must rein in the fed and open the books, and KEEP THEM OPEN!
Study the symptoms not the virus...
They have their comments locked for the article over at wsj. Typical. I tried to comment over there. They must have been getting comments that don't parrot the fascist lines. Fuck that rag. They're 1 step over IBD and that rag would make Hitler proud.
The WSJ is one of Rupert Murdoch rags via "News Corporation"... F-him...
Study the symptoms not the virus...
I'm looking forward to the passage of card check. It's about time for workers to have the power to demand a living wage. The dishonesty the talking heads have been spreading about this has been amazing. I wonder what Joe the Plumber's position is on card check?
great, another inarticulate Democrat.
The last thing these CEOs want is a unionized work force. They may have to pay living wages rather than have taxpayers subsidize (food stamps, health care, etc.) their employees. Why are they allowed to spend money on lobbying anyway when they are working against the working people who have their retirement funds (401Ks, etc.) invested in their bank? That money would be better put to use improving their bottom line and paying out dividends.
I'm curious to know, after labor laws and civil rights have come so far, if the little people will take HALF the shit they had to swallow during the first Great Depression in the NEXT Great Depression.
As far as I'm concerned there WILL NOT be FILTHY RICH people while I sit here and starve - I will be joining the nearest pitchfork mob.
It appears marginally-regulated capitalism has gasped it's last breath. The system was rigged and designed to exploit lowly people and benefit the few.
I asked the question a few threads ago - was Che Guevara a hero or a murderous thug like Mark Levin would have you believe?
These wingnut talking heads KNOW the system is fucked so they have to TALK IT UP OVER AND OVER to convince enough stupid people that it's the best system we could possibly have. BULL SHIT.
Could you imagine an angry mob the size of the one that was there for Obama's inauguration storming DC? That may be what it takes for the Retardicans and Repulicrats to get on THE SAME FUCKING PAGE AND DO THE RRIIGGHHTT THING -
WHICH IS A CAP ON HOW MUCH ONE PERSON CAN EARN SO THAT THERE IS ENOUGH LEFT OVER FOR *EEVVEERRYYOONNEE* TO EARN A LIVING WAGE. BALANCED FUCKING BOOKS, NOT COOKED FUCKING BOOKS.
OORR
A 50% TAX ON PEOPLE EARNING OVER A MILLION DOLLARS SO THAT THERE ARE SAFETY NETS FOR ALL PEOPLE.
TAKE YOUR FUCKING PICK.
CAPITALISM IS GREAT IF IT WORKS FOR EVERYBODY TO AT LEAST SOME DEGREE - WHEN IT DOESN'T YOU BETTER FIX THE FUCKING SYSTEM SOMEHOW.
Doesn't Rep. Ellison know the bankers have made it clear that TARP funds cease to exist as a separate pool of money once deposited in a bank? So, the bankers in receipt of such funds can say such money is not used for lobbying or for any other purpose they may wish to deny with a straight face while laughing their asses off.
It is no surprise to see the CEO of BofA with little or no ethics. They will take citizens monies and use it whatever way they choose. The ethics of using citizens monies dishonestly by bankers and other Wall Street goons it evident and will continue. Just call bonuses "retention awards" and the stupid citizens will never realize.
..to nationalize all banks. The Federal Reserve Corporation should also be nationalized. It is clear that the banking industry as a private sector entity is actively working against the interests of the nation. They will never change and they will never obey any regulations that they believe they can get away with breaking. They've had their chance, andthey flipped the bird to America. Now it's time to clean house.
Rep. Ellison did an excellent job asking these questions. Congressional members like Rep. Ellison are getting it right when they pinpoint areas that need attention and regulation. It is an excellent point that while TARP funds are being distributed, those companies receiving them have to follow certain very specific instructions including not being allowed to lobby, no matter what "equity" the bank may have, until after it has paid back all TARP funds in full.
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