"President Barack Obama lashed out on Thursday at “shameful” Wall Street
executives for claiming billions of dollars in bonuses while their stricken
institutions asked taxpayers for support.Mr Obama described the bonuses as the
“height of irresponsibility”, and made clear that additional government support
for the industry would be subject to tough conditions on pay and other
perks."
But guess what? His tax evading, tax cheating Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner gets a pretty attractive package:
"Newly minted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s finances got a recent boost, thanks to a plump $435,000 severance payment from his old employer – the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.(Source)
In addition, Geithner last year earned $411,000 as president of the New York Fed and got another $50,000 to $100,000 for unused vacation and comp time, according to a mandatory financial disclosure statement released by the Office of Government Ethics.
News of his nearly half-million dollar severance payment comes as Geithner embarks on helping President Barack Obama sell the $825 billion stimulus package, designed to help struggling Americans."
Translation: It's ok for government executives to get compensation but private sector -- not so much.
Well, I'm thinking that the companies which took a bailout are sorry they did. It appears that BIG BROTHER aka PSBO (who clearly has no corporate experience) can then tell them how to pay their employees. I wonder how the folks who are cheering PSBO for scolding these Wall Street CEO's would feel if their employers didn't give them their annual bonuses, vacation pay, or comp time?
(Sidebar question: Was Michelle Obama a partner in her law firm? If so, possibly 50% of her income would be generated by her bonus)
Stay tuned folks more Socialism to follow.
12 comments:
He also said this was the ultimate in irresponsibility.
I think the ultimate in irresponsibility is pushing a trillion dollar "stimulus" bill that most people don't want, that won't work, and will actually increase the suffering of the American people and the rest of the world.
And what about the lawmakers that gave them money without conditions to begin with? Thank the previous administration and congress for that. Obama is just building on that foolishness.
This after having am inauguration that was the most expensive in history, and giving a cocktail party in the white house last week, serving Wagyu steaks at $130-$195 a steak, as he quaffed vodka martinis, the presidents cocktail of choice according to the news papers.
I guess a trip to costco for a load of NY strips is out of the question LOL.
At the height of this is the fact that he once again placed his Socialist agenda at the forefront. Quoting our President: "There will be time for them to make profits and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time."
Who is the government to decide when that time is? Not time to make profits. My good common sense says that if you are making a profit then things are going good for you. This is the government setting a maximum wage to go along with the minimum wage.
Many of these financial companies did not want the government bailout money. They were called in and told to sign over part of their company by the Bush administration and told that they would take the money.
Did he not hear that the city of New York is not receiving nearly $270M in tax revenue because Wall Street bonuses are down 44% from previous year? And those that were paid out only totaled bonuses paid in 2004.
When we don't get our filings into the IRS by April 15th then we should ask for a person letter of forgiveness from Timothy Geithner since he was able to get away with his. What a double standard!
You need to view these attacks in their proper context.
Rants against corporations will be heightened to usher in the new regulation and tax regime.
The public will be outraged and they will demand that their new Progressive government DO SOMETHING!!
It is all too clear as well from the recent legislation on "Net Neutrality". The Democrats wanted sparsely populated places in the USA to have high speed Internet where it was otherwise not feasible from a business plan view.
They put $6 billion out from the government for the build out. Any telecomm carrier that takes the money have to abide by NET NEUTRALITY regulations. This was something that people who mix "technology" and "civil rights" have been gunning for for a long time.
Any business that agrees to take this money with these provisions - DESERVES what they get.
This is the same thing for the banks who take government money while in a state of duress only to have regulations based on resentment and envy placed upon them.
Boy are these going to be some interesting times.
Obama is firing out the SYMBOLIC policies and legislative changes. It will take about 2 years before all of the smoke clears and the results of all of this symbolism becomes clear.
[quote]Who is the government to decide when that time is? Not time to make profits. My good common sense says that if you are making a profit then things are going good for you. This is the government setting a maximum wage to go along with the minimum wage.
Many of these financial companies did not want the government bailout money. They were called in and told to sign over part of their company by the Bush administration and told that they would take the money.[/quote]
Brother Man - as painful as it is for me to say this - THEY TOOK THE GOVERNMENT CASH - and thus these companies opened themselves up to the new CORPORATE BOARD that they now have looking over every invoice and pay stub.
The Bush Administration made a serious tactical mistake with the TARP package. This has given the Democrats about 3 years of rebuttal against questions over their spending.
"Why are you opposing Obama's debt spending when BUSH proposed giving money to the banks rather than the people?". The Bush Administration should have set up a "Resolution Trust" type agency in which bad loans are purchased pennies on the dollar (Obama has just announced this) and allowed the banks that were in trouble to wade until this idea got off of the ground.
Bush and the Republicans who voted in favor of this past summer's financing opened up the flood gates of spending we will see.
Sad to say - this problem is not going to get fixed until this nation has a MAJOR financial collapse were more people are made to feel it. The two sides are simply fighting on the deck of the Titanic right now.
@feedback
Yes they did take the money but some of them were told that they could not leave the room until they took money. That is called blackmail or better yet could have been kidnapping or maybe unlawful detainment.
The Bush Administration mistake was letting Paulson decide who got what and without any oversight. Maybe he knew what he was doing after all. Without government oversight as to how the money was being spent then it could go where they wanted it to go.
This whole TARP was a rush to try to do something but in the end did nothing. Credit markets are still tight and no money is flowing. But to tell a company it can't pay in many cases legally contracted bonuses is just wrong. Unless Obama is now Judge Dredd and he invokes the " I am the Law" rule. A contract is a contract.
Yes Bush tactical error was giving to the banks. But more seriously not outlining what the banks needed to do with the money. Paulson kept changing what the money would be used for because initially I thought that toxic assets on the books would be bought by Feds to remove from banks books.
The shrinking housing market started this and a bustling housing market will signal the end of this.
I agree with you on the companies that take any piece of the broadband initiative.
do you think the bonus coming at a time where the "street" is getting hundreds of billions of tax payer money might have something to do with that? or is the old right wing trick of "picking the facts you want and throw the rest out" that talk radio uses like a qb sneak on fourth and inches?
Anon~You wrote:"do you think the bonus coming at a time where the "street" is getting hundreds of billions of tax payer money might have something to do with that?"
The point his PSBO's corrupt Treasury Secretary isn't turning down his rightful compensation package at a time when the "street" is getting billions, hell not only the "street", the automobile industry, the nat'l park service, nat'l endowment for he arts, etal...
The people who work on the "street" most probably have employment contracts with their employers which entitles them to compensation.
No right wing tricks here, my friend just good old fashion horse sense which clearly Obama and his acolytes lack.
Hey did you hear Michael Steele is the first black head of the RNC. What do you think about it?
GO MAN OF STEELE!!!!! WOO HOO!!! Hello to the Goliath that is waking, the republican party is making a come back!!!
YIPPIE!!!!! I AM POSITIVELY ESTATIC.
I am a democrat but most importantly, I am an independent thinker. I don't buy into the Obama hype or worship.
People act like he is someone special and I just don't see it. All I see is a corrupt politician from Chicago who benefited from Bush hatred, the corruption machine of Chicago, the black messiah complex and crazy liberals.
His accomplishments(lack thereof rather)had nothing to do with it. Although I am glad our country has taken a major step forward in racial equality, I can't say I am happy or celebratory for the man who is office.
Like always, I respect my President. However, I'm not drinking the koolaid, if he succeeds, it will be despite his incompetence, narcissism, arrogance, and moral/superiority complex.
Why are people so crazy about him and his family? He isn't the first man to be married to a black woman and raised his children. Why are people praising him for doing what he is suppose to do.
We really need to stop selling ourselves short. There are plenty of educated brothers out there, who I respect more than I would ever respect Obama.
People really need to take off the sunglasses and start seeing reality. He is no greater than anyone else. And the sooner everyone else realizes it the better this country will be.
Post a Comment