Obscene. Unbelievable.

Anybody home?

Perhaps the Wall Streeters could benefit from this quote from the Worst (Former)Canadian Ever, Conrad Black, in 2002, when responding to outrage from his shareholders over his excessive personal use of the corporate jet:

“There has not been an occasion for many months when I got on our plane without wondering whether it was really affordable. But I’m not prepared to re-enact the French Revolutionary renunciation of the rights of nobility. We have to find a balance between an unfair taxation on the company and a reasonable treatment of the founders-builders-managers. We are proprietors, after all, beleaguered though we may be.”

I do believe Conrad got it right on the French Revolution part, I do not think that there has been a time since the Revolution when the elites tried to have wars and luxuries and no taxes on the aristocracy on the level of Bushco. But Conrad is thinking about all this now from a jail cell, and I hope he will have company soon.

Typical. Our ruling class does not rule for the welfare of our nation, but for welfare for themselves. This is a sneering kleptocracy, an aristocracy of arrogance that seeks only to enrich itself.

I’m more convinced than ever that our nation’s plutocrats seek to emulate the former Soviet Union: they want America to dissolve so that they, like their former Soviet counterparts, can become wealthy off the destruction of the nation. After all, why be a mere CEO, when one can become the King of Georgia, the Queen of Alaska, or the Emperor of Texas?

Proof once again that is okay for “socialism” to trickle upward to the top 1% of the population that controls the horizontal and the vertical… but it is considered “welfare” for our taxes to trickle back to the middle class.

Disgusting… Obama’s surrogates need to do a better job of explaining this to the morons of this country who vote against their economic interests.

A reporter on MSNBC interviewed a guy at the NC State Fair while waiting for Obama’s Fayetteville rally to start…. the guy said he got all energized once Palin entered the ticket … and she is “really great”… and that he doesn’t think tax increases are a good idea so he’s voting for McCain (actually for Palin it sounded like)… and the reporter asked, “so you think tax cuts are good?” and the guy said “Yeah”… and the reporter looked straight into the camera with a big smile on his face as the guy walked away. ……This is what we’re dealing with.

The difference between today’s leaders and those before the French Revolution is that when today’s business class says, “Let them eat cake,” they are speaking of themselves.

Great catch. More evidence if any was needed that Wall Street is completely and totally incapable of reforming itself or addressing the meltdown.

I know there may be some that will say bonuses are necessary to keep top talent at a company. To this, I say two things. First, their top talent are those most responsible for the current meltdown. Are these the people you really want to keep, let alone reward? Second, seriously where are they going to go? The financial sector has been hemorrhaging jobs. For everyone of these clowns, there are probably 10 others, at least as qualified, who would love to take their place.

Gretchen Morgenson analyzes the compensation portions of the bailout bill in today’s NYT. She can’t quite bring herself to call it inadequate, but it’s a start on the inadequacy of the rules.

I can’t believe that the critters forked over money without conditions that these compensation packages be ended or no help from uncle Sam.

The sky is falling… the sky is falling… and of course these thugs walk away with billions.

This money should be recalled every friggin dime and let the execs use their cash to save their companies.

We need to get the MSM to cover this that and some WH reporter with Stones should ask Dana Perrino the WH press secretary what Bush’s opinion is.
If she says Bush or the WH doesn’t have on opinion then we say when the Country is in a Depression are you sure that Bush does not have an opinion on Wallstreet giving themselves bonuses for a job well done?
Scratch that losing 4 years worth of profit with tax payer money is what you want Bush to be remembered for in the History books?

“it may well be that by the end of the year the banks start review the situation” ; huh? end of the year? And gee, why do you suppose this got published in a British newspaper instead of a U.S. newspaper?

The article ought to faxed to every mother lovin son of a gun that is in Congress and asked ‘is this what you voted for’?

Can investors sue WallStreet for their losses Wallstreet certainly has the money to pay it seems?

It’s more than clear that the financial sector has been a dismal failure for everyone except the big cheeses who have paid themselves obscenely.

So going forward what are the real chances things will be any different? How DO you change that culture?

Great Post. But this amazing fraud by Goldman Sachs has been more secret than Total Information Awareness. First “troubled” assets would be purchased by us stupid taxpayers. Then we were going to buy the “toxic” assets. Now we get to buy banks, presumably the bad banks. This may or may not include the hundreds of billions already given to AIG, and other robber barons.

This is mostly being done by The Greatest Thief Ever, Paulson. His Robin the Boy Wonder, Kash and Karry, six years out of business school will be in control of our $700B. No one really seems to know the facts, other than this is a final solution of “shock doctrine”.

I have no answer other than actually finding the truth. Otherwise perhaps we could cure the economy the old fashioned way, productive jobs.

Paulson, Fuld and the rest of these parasites need to go to prison. But not the nice white collar prison. This is a criminal conspiracy by neo-cons, who have planned this caper for years.

Since 2004, F.B.I. officials have warned that mortgage fraud posed a looming threat, and the bureau has repeatedly asked the Bush administration for more money to replenish the ranks of agents handling nonterrorism investigations, according to records and interviews. But each year, the requests have been denied, with no new agents approved for financial crimes, as policy makers focused on counterterrorism…

But several former law enforcement officials said in interviews that senior administration officials, particularly at the White House and the Treasury Department, had made clear to them that they were concerned the Justice Department and the F.B.I. were taking an antibusiness attitude that could chill corporate risk taking.

Sue them? OWN them and toss out these rip off artists and change the whole system of banking.

Derivatives have to be outlawed and the casino nature of Wall street ended.

Cut the BS about managing risk and credit default swaps and BS insurance and do BANKING and finance of business. Surely not as glamorous, not as profitable, but we need a stable banking sector, not a crap den.

I don’t know why some prosecutor is not busting each and every one of these SOBs for RICO and criminal conspiracy. Why is this not even a topic… has there been criminal conduct in all this?

We are led to believe that what has been going down was all legal and nothing but enormous risk taking with OPM other people’s money. I say this is criminal and fraud.

We need to see some prosecutions and quick – not with endless delays and motions.

This is an outrage, but I am sure still-employed Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson will get on it right away.

Yeah we own the companies we should insist on voting stock and firing people or we will sell the stock of one financial company let it go bankrupt and then ask in the rest want to change their minds?
Derivatives should be outlawed agreed also I don’t think the banks have the money to pay them so Bush or Obama will have to outlaw them because the tax payers don’t have that kind of cash.

History will remember Paulson, Bush and Helicopter Ben as the trio that nationalized the Banks George Will GOPers will rant about them for decades.
Look at FDR and Social Security the GOP still can’t let that one go.
I look forward to a time in the not so distant future where the GOP attacks Bush for this and I know that they will.

Let me suggest that this article -and your thoughts about it- be emailed to everyone on your email lists. UPRISE !!

Can Obama fire Helicopter Ben?

They need to be PROSECUTED not fired.

The Fed Chair serves a fixed term. Not sure if others have left early. Pretty sure a President could prevail upon a Fed chair to leave early, but I’m not sure Obama wants his fingerprints on that.

…and I will so be making popcorn for that show…

Perhaps people will eventually figure out that protesting the government is a massive waste of time and resources, they’re not the ones who really make the decisions.

If you want to get things done, get 10,000 people on the front lawn of one of these CEO’s mansions.

gated estates… my friend

Thanks Ian.

digg

I’m so pissed I can’t see straight.

Schumer and Dodd are on my list of offices to call tomorrow.

Obama should beat McCain to the punch on this and speak out against it. You know McCain is going to jump all over this.

These are publicly traded companies. I have to think the shareholders will be as pissed off as the rest of us.

Shareholders are like voters… each one a small voice, easily ignored. Large institutional investors, like pensions and mutual funds need to get serious and do something. They were too silent as they were making lots of cash… turned a blind eye… wink wink, nod nod. They were enablers, weren’t they?

The system is rotten from top to bottom. Purge it and start a new.

Seize the assets of the bastards.

Totally in keeping with the kleptocracy.

When exec drove US Airways into BK twice to shred vendor and labor contracts, not only did the judge uphold executive contracts, he allowed them to enrich themselves further with ‘retention’ bonuses.

Whay one would want to retain the very folks who drove the company into BK remains unanswered.

I’m pissed as hell at the bonuses, but I’m going to take a stab at defending them. The bonus is often considered part of salary, like summer money for professors. It would be better if these guys got straight pay, but this is the way it works. They expected something. Whether they deserve it is another question. I’m just saying that there was an implicit contractor between them and their employer. My guess that at least for the lower-downs, this is what is at stake.

My personal take: these salaries and bonuses are what we call economic rent. That rent is now negative. They shouldn’t get a penny, since their opportunity cost is now zilch. Excuse me, less than zilch.

Folks may feel that the bonus is part of salary or to be expected but the reality is, it is NOT a guaranteed part of the salary.

A similar situation is when I was working DoD contracts. These were often Cost-plus Award Fee deals. The contractor (and I was on both sides of the fence over the years) may think they deserved the full award fee but they still had to make a presentation showing why they were deserving of the fee. It was not (at least not supposed to be) awarded automatically. The bonus payments are not supposed to be automatic although, the treatment the management types we’re talking about has been that the bonus has been automatic. That has to change. If it was not part of the guaranteed compensation, which was already quite generous, then they don’t have an inherent right to it, no matter what they may think.

OT .. but .. GO OBAMA !!!! …. yesssssssss… we csn …