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Wall Street Executives Made $3 Billion Before Crisis
Tom Randall and Jamie McGee
Bloomberg
Saturday, Sept 27, 2008
Wall Street’s five biggest firms paid more than $3 billion in the last five years to their top executives, while they presided over the packaging and sale of loans that helped bring down the investment-banking system.
Merrill Lynch & Co. paid its chief executives the most, with Stanley O’Neal taking in $172 million from 2003 to 2007 and John Thain getting $86 million, including a signing bonus, after beginning work in December. The company agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. for about $50 billion on Sept. 15. Bear Stearns Cos.’s James “Jimmy” Cayne made $161 million before the company collapsed and was sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. in June.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress are demanding that limits be placed on executive pay as part of the $700 billion financial rescue plan proposed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO, who received about $111 million between 2003 and 2006, said in testimony to Congress on Sept. 24 that he would accept such limits as part of the plan, after initially opposing them.
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“Shareholders and boards should have done something about this a long time ago,” said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware in Newark. “They justified these levels of pay on the idea that they’re all geniuses. I think that balloon has burst.”
Wall Street firms have shared profits liberally with employees. The five biggest — Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns — paid their 185,687 employees $66 billion in 2007, as problems with subprime mortgages mounted, including about $39 billion in bonuses. That amounts to average pay of $353,089 per employee, including an average bonus of $211,849. The five firms had combined net income of $93 billion during the five years through 2007.
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19 Responses to “Wall Street Executives Made $3 Billion Before Crisis”
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September 27th, 2008 at 5:16 am
“Bail out?”
Bring the rope out is more like it.
These guys need prison terms.
September 27th, 2008 at 5:51 am
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=X4rD6muiCd4
September 27th, 2008 at 7:23 am
If the bailout goes through, close your bank account and do all transactions in cash.
FREE AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY
September 27th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Senator,
I am extremely concerned about what is going on in Washington. This ‘bailout’ seems to resemble a third-world fascist takeover with each passing day. Clearly, some members of the US Congress seem intent on contravening the will of the American public in an effort to consolidate absolute power in a handful of corrupt Wall St banks.
I do not use the word ‘corrupt’ lightly. Lehman failed on Monday September 15th. JP Morgan Chase immediately forwarded $138 billion to the bankrupt Lehman to ‘close out’ credit derivatives transactions. JP Morgan was then reimbursed by the Federal Reserve for this same $138 billion, in two back-to-back payments. This transaction appears to be fraudulent.
Senator, please explain. Hold a press conference if you must.
Why is Congress rushing to pass the ‘core’ of Paulson’s plan in the face of what appears to be rampant criminal activity by these investment banks? What good is ’saving’ the financial system if its basis is criminal? Is the ’sense of urgency’ because some members of Congress receive large donations from the banks which have engineered this collapse? Or have these members of Congress been blackmailed or bribed?
Senator, just why is it that certain key members of Congress refuse to listen to the American public, who are overwhelmingly opposed to Paulson’s so-called ‘bailout’?
Unfortunately, the ‘we know what’s best for America’ excuse will not fly. Many people saw this coming. Over 200 top American economists, including Nobel prize winning men, are opposed to this ‘bailout’, which would be better characterized as a fascist coup.
Senator, let us for a moment consider Secretary Paulson, the architect of this reprehensible plan and it’s notorious ‘Section 8′ clause, an astonishing power grab that would have fit right into Italy in 1938. The mere fact that this clause was sent to Congress should produce criminal hearings regarding Hank Paulson and the authorship of the original bill. But all I hear are wind chimes.
I would like to remind Congress that it is their duty to write the legislation and uphold the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Senator, have some moral courage.
Fillibuster this fascist coup.
Hundreds of millions of Americans will support you.
Sincerely,
An American Patriot
September 27th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I find this very interesting. Michael Miliken did this in 1987 with the junk bonds. I am convinced that this was a trial balloon. It put many Savings and Loans out of business as well as Thrifts. This was 20 years ago, today the investment vehicles are Collateralized Debt Obligations and Securitized Investment Vehicles etc… The point is this was created to take over the entire financial system so that the Federal Reserve would be in complete control of the Monetary System. They did the same thing in 1929.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:43 am
we the people …
america is a modern day babylon
You the people, allow live birth abortions.
birth and death certificates are issued. This is MURDER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRpIf2F9NA
the end of america is near, thy will be done
September 27th, 2008 at 8:45 am
It’s sad that these money changers aren’t swinging from the ends of ropes. For them, the fraudulent fractional reserve system with their imaginary money has worked out well: they own mansions, numerous cars, airplanes, islands etc. For all of us who work for a living, we are faced with ever increasing difficulties in deciding to buy small things like groceries, utilities bills and gas prices. In the 60’s, a young man could work at a normal labor job, buy a new car and still have money to do normal things.
Now all we see if the dollar decreasing faster than businesses and the government can adjust for cost of living increases to wages and salaries. Greed was the driving factor behind these fat cats, so they should lose everything. The government should come in, seize all their property under RICO statutes and sell off the businesses and lock up all the criminals. The criminals are so numerous, from low level book keepers who had to have known something was wrong, but wanted their bonus for keeping up appearances, to the upper level management who played the charade out to the final moment of destruction.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am
They want a fascist planet with the superwealthy ruling it all
Since we’re too independent, America must be led to fall
When our credit’s been exhausted to subdue the Middle East,
They’ll install our debtor nation in the body of The Beast
Traitor…Dare call it treason
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw5dP5gy2Vs
September 27th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Just heard that the CEO of WAMU got 12 million bonus for working the job for 3 weeks. This is what the “bailout” is funding
September 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Shit like this and the Lehman Bros. 2.5 Billion Executive parachute payoffs are fucking criminal. How the fuck can top execs. who are already filthy rich completely destroy a company and ruin peoples lives and get even wealthier doing it?
Those that were financially ruined by these fuckers should go to their homes, kill everybody inside, and burn the fucking house down!
September 27th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
As the ‘Great Galvaro’ said in the ‘Magnificent Seven’ sheep are there to be shorn. Get the message ‘gringos’?
September 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Thomas Jefferson: you’ve just realised this? Get back to your tv set.
September 27th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
http://www.rense.com/general83/break.htm
Read this and pass it on. It is a great article!
September 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Unless you live in a cave Im sure you have noticed the economic bad news daily hapenning in the world, especially in the United States. This blog is dedicated to the free and open exchange of information relating to purchasing and investing in gold and other precious metals as a viable option for avoiding the dollars collapse
Check out my blog site for information relating to this topic at http://goldvseconomiccrisis.blogspot.com/
Any comments welcome. Thanks
September 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
swindelers, all of them I tell you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vma8wnb6UmI
September 27th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
If there was such a thing as a honest judge the stockholders could bring civil suit against the criminal ceo’s and reduce them to the poor house.
But since the repugnantcan judges are even more crooked than the rapist ceo’s nothing will happen as usual.
damn rebubbalicans suck… there should be a bounty on the retards.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Americans have been putting up with this outrage since the 1980’s. Perhaps it ’s days are numbered if the Dems manage to convince the Repukes that CEO compensation reform is needed in the bailout reform package. I’m not holding my breath!
It was this type of excess that led the French people to finally revolt and take matters into their own hands and start the French Revolution. Americans are too pathetic and cowardly to do something like this!
September 28th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hey..when you make 22K per hour who gives a crap what the little guy thinks. Our congress/senate/speakers/gov etc all seems to agree. They sold us down the drain years ago when they allowed bribes from big buisiness and realized that Americans wouldn’t yell about it.. they’ll do whatever you tell them to do these Americans. To this day we still do what they tell us to do even though the constitution was actually written to prevent that very thing from happening. It’s to bad they got greedy but it’s even worse that the American population got even greed-ier.. and for what? What did you want for x-mas little Timmy? A 200$ x-box.. “no problem” little guy! You want to look thru my cloths at the airport when I travel (as 5 turban clad dudes walk by without a glance).. sure, “no problem” homeland security! You’re willing to pay 10$ for a cup of bitter coffee with a credit card.. it’s really no wonder. Probably feeling a little too guily or greedy to march on WA these days middle America!! We deserve to suffer.. but we don’t deserve to pay billions for a war that has no basis or an economic crisis that wont be fixed with money. We need change.
September 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I thought the democratic party was the party of the “common man”, so whats with the Wall Street bailout of the super rich by the party that criticizes the tax breaks of the super rich. After all the Congress which authorizes the expeditures of the Governments is now not only also authorizing a carte blanche giveaway to the Evil Rich but giving the go ahead that the money not even be watched by the Judicial branch of government. If there is a misdeed that the offending party is given a automatic pardon. Its the last days of the Clinton administration all over again. Whats with the unauthorized borrowing under a Democratic Controlled congress of banks to the tune of better than 188 billion dollars a day? http://www.reuters.com/article.....B920080925 Cripes at least there was some outcry over the white slavery and no bid contracts of haliburton.
What is with people being arrested for speaking against the Democratic Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama in Missouri and Vermont. This is the way the party of the First Amendment treats those who exercise the First Amendment. Is this really the Democratic Party?