Wall Street's Bailout Hustle
Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crashOn January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis.
The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses — meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly commensurate with what they received during the bubble years. Still, the troops were worried: There were rumors that Dr. Ballsachs, bowing to political pressure, might be forced to scale the number back. After all, the country was broke, 14.8 million Americans were stranded on the unemployment line, and Barack Obama and the Democrats were trying to recover the populist high ground after their bitch-whipping in Massachusetts by calling for a "bailout tax" on banks. Maybe this wasn't the right time for Goldman to be throwing its annual Roman bonus orgy.
Not to worry, Blankfein reassured employees. "In a year that proved to have no shortage of story lines," he said, "I believe very strongly that performance is the ultimate narrative."
Translation: We made a shitload of money last year because we're so amazing at our jobs, so fuck all those people who want us to reduce our bonuses.
Goldman wasn't alone. The nation's six largest banks — all committed to this balls-out, I drink your milkshake! strategy of flagrantly gorging themselves as America goes hungry — set aside a whopping $140 billion for executive compensation last year, a sum only slightly less than the $164 billion they paid themselves in the pre-crash year of 2007. In a gesture of self-sacrifice, Blankfein himself took a humiliatingly low bonus of $9 million, less than the 2009 pay of elephantine New York Knicks washout Eddy Curry. But in reality, not much had changed. "What is the state of our moral being when Lloyd Blankfein taking a $9 million bonus is viewed as this great act of contrition, when every penny of it was a direct transfer from the taxpayer?" asks Eliot Spitzer, who tried to hold Wall Street accountable during his own ill-fated stint as governor of New York.
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5 COMMENTS:
Nice job guys...thanks for the much needed site!
Ten Wall Street Blogs You Need To Bookmark Now
Very nice comments from the WSJ today:
“Every addict has to have his or her fix, and for Wall Street junkies obsessed with bonuses, bailouts and beta, the blogosphere has plenty of smack to go around…
What follows, in my opinion, is the best of the best. I’ve limited the list to include sites that combine news and analysis on Wall Street, skipping the stockpickers or pure investing sites. Some in the top 10 are focused on the economy, but include the world of broker/dealers and banks as part of their mission. For purely economic blogs see WSJ.com’s piece from July 2009. I’ve also excluded blogs run by major news organizations such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Financial Times.”
The list includes TBP, Business Insider, Calculated Risk, DealBreaker, Epicurean Dealmaker, Goldman Sachs 666, MacroMan, Naked Capitalism, Reformed Broker, and Zero Hedge.
http://tinyurl.com/yf4xnr7
Probably all for show because the public KNOWS the truth and credibility of important government/ quasi govt figures is at all time low!
25 February 2010
Bernanke Says He Will Investigate
What Goldman and other the other banks have done in Greece is no different from what they have been doing around the world for the past ten years. They facilitate various forms of questionable financial instruments with corrupt partners, and then trade on their detailed knowledge of that misrepresentation, mispricing and even outright fraud to reap enormous profits, often at the expense of the productive economy and programs designed to protect legitimate commercial banking activities. This is at the very core of the CDO financial crisis in the States.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/02/bernanke-says-he-will-investigate.html
not to be antisemitic..not sure if i spelled that right...but if you notice the name of the company
is a jewish name. and the head of the company as well as most of the employees you will find most are jewish. If people dig into the other big banks that are screwing us all they will surely find the same information..funny how 3% of the population is stealing money from 97% of the population???
Bullshit! I have heard the opposite of this stuff just right on other sites.
actually, I am so confused about it, so I would better do some more research.
What a concerning issue!
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