NYC's 10 Biggest Paychecks: Who's Overpaid? (POLL)

They're coming out on top, even in a down market. This week Crains released its "Fortunate 100," a ranking of the New York City area's highest-paid executives at publicly-held companies. Though pay for these high-flying execs was down 36.7 percent last year on average, the Big Apple's most prominent CEOs are still bringing in millions.

There are some familiar names here, including the heads of several companies that have received billions in TARP funds. The top paid TARP executive is Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein, who received a pay package worth $42.9 million, according to Crain's.

Crains calculated its rankings by examining SEC filings, salary agreements and other documents. Their figures include base salary, stock options, perks and other forms of compensation.

In a year during which billions were spent on government bailouts, the larger question is, of course, whether or not these CEOs earned their paychecks. Which Wall Street big wig is most deserving of his paycheck? Read Crains' story, or view our slideshow of the 10 Biggest Paychecks On Wall Street and VOTE below:

Now Make Your Own Top 5 And Share with Your Friends

Peter Kraus, AllianceBernstein

1 of 9

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides: « »

:

Become a fan

Vote and Share Choose Your Top 5 Underpaid Way Overpaid Now Make Your Own Top 5 And Share with Your Friends RANK: AVERAGE:  OUT OF 10 Topping the list is Peter Kraus of AllianceBernstein. The ex-Merrill Lynch banker who was offered $50 million to come to Alliance, Crains reported.

Recent HuffPost Users Who Voted on this Slide:

Current Top Five

Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[JackRusselTerrier]

Who is over paid on this list? All of them, every last one.

They all have made their money at the expense of others. I could go down the list and explain in more detail, but that would be very time consuming and I only have 250 words.

They have all made money by bribing politicians and getting laws passed which has created a disparity of wealth as never before.. Some of them are directly responsible for lives being lost ( indirectly at the very least).They have all manipulated the system, which they and their exclusive country club friends created.They have consolidated their power to the detriment of us all. They and their kind control all three branches of government, the banks, and the media, etc. They play a game of divide and conquer subverting the system to their benefit alone. They claim they create wealth and jobs, when all they really do is run a modern day serfdom.

What have any of these power players done too deserve their wealth? Did they cure cancer? Did they solve world hunger? Have they stopped wars? No, quite the opposite. They are corrupt to the core.

[Aubear]

What happened to all the help and the change we were supposed to see for those less fortunate that was supposed to come out of these massive spending programs. In my state the programs that has aided the less fortunate by making essential repairs to their homes and ensuring that thier homes are cheaper to operate have been essentially canceled. But we are taking damn good care of those who are too big to fail.
This is not a partisan problem, this is a politician problem. We cannot have change in this country, nor can we have honesty from our leaders so long as they are in a perpetial campaign mode.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Let's not forget campaign finance, which is really why the laws protect only certain people. Follow the big money and you'll find the source of the big problems

[PhilipTaylor]

Add in the Wall Street Controlled FED Reserve and you have a Recipe for a CRISIS!

Most popular Representative in Congress is Ron Paul and perhaps now his FED Bill in Congress along with the Kucinich Bill to Audit the FED will gain more support!

Is it coincidence that the FED issued DEBT correlates very closely with America's move from

The #1 Creditor Nation to the #1 Debtor Nation?

[Rule Of Law]

OH, but the recovery is right around the corner, Philip! We'll get back all that money the Corporatocracy sent to all those foreign countries. You just gotta have faith. Sacrifice a goat, or something! :)

If Obama was the best we could dredge up this time around, what in the world will we do in 8 years.....­.........?

[ThatOne4Me]

Shudder to think what the worst would have been like. I really dislike a lot of Obama's policies, especially his broken promises. But the thought of McCain/Palin in the WH scares me. MAYBE we can :-)

[WIpatriot]

You know what I think about coincidences....

[desertman]

Let's expand this poll to actors, athletes, race car drivers and politicians. Don't stop with overpaid CEOs.

[ycreek]

A person in this country should have the right to get paid for as much as he/she can negotiate. A football player's salary is no business of mine or yours. That IS capitalism.

[Rule Of Law]

And if it is a truly free market, more power to them.

I think sports, and any form of entertainment are probably about as close to a Darwinian form of survival of the fittest in a free market as we're gonna find.

And, if that were the case in business, I'd say let the market work.

But it ain't.

For a lot of reasons.

I'll let others here provide them.

[Aubear]

Well, the last idiotic administration was in such a damned hurry to get these moneys through they didn't think to place stipulations on how salaries could be administered to these great executives that were apperantly so wonderfull that their companies needed our money to stay afloat. Now this administration seemes hell-bent to repeat the same mistakes. Both of these ego-maniacs have been in such a god-awfull hurry to save face on the economy that they have allowed this garbage to happen. You know I would really like to know when we are going to be compensated for this investment that we have collectively made. I mean my business is way down, but I'm having to gut it out all on my own. And my employees, well, that's just too bad for them I'm afraid. But thank god these guys in NY get their millions to feed their families with, not sure how they would survive without it you know?

[desertman]

You forgot to be "too big to fail". That seems to be the requirement.

[ThatOne4Me]

As they say, too big too fail, too big to exist.

[SamKnause]

All of these people are over paid. The most expensive education in the world would not warrant this kind of pay. 20 years of experience would not warrant this kind of pay. No one is worth this kind of pay. This feeling of entitlement and greed is ruining the entire world. It is not just the CEO's that are guilty. It is our elected government officials, sports figures, actors, corporation owners, musicians, etc. I repeat, no one is worth or has earned this kind of pay.

[Lefty08]

Totally agree. Too much disparity of income between them, and many folks who work just as hard at their not-as-glamorous jobs breeds contempt.

[desertman]

How about :

A-rod - 27.5M
Jeter - 25.2M
Kimi Räikkönen - 51M
Fernando Alonso - 40M
Will smith - 80M
Johny Depp - 72M
Eddie Murphy - 55M

Are they overpaid? I just read "no one is worth this kind of money". Do you stand by that?

[nomorefed]

1st 100 days - There are 2.9 million more people unemployed in May than there were unemployed in January. The unemployment rate went from 7.6% to 9.4%.
Since May 2008, we have lost 5.5 million jobs. The biggest losers were:
Manufacturing 1.5 million lost
Finance & Prof Serv 1.5 million lost
Construction 1.1 million lost
Retail & Leisure 1.3 million lost

hat tip to href=".http://www.iamned.com"> for providing good finance and economics articles

where is the change? where is hope? why cant ppl find jobs?

[desertman]

Credit has collapsed and companies are folding. That means a tight job market.

[PasadenaAnnoyed]

Seriously? In 100 days, you expect a total reversal of 8 YEARS of policy?

Please go try this: Go rent the biggest, heaviest vehicle that you are licensed to drive (assuming you are). Fill it as full of crap as you can - really, anything will do. Now, get a friend to come with you - he or she must have a stop watch. Go to your nearest freeway with one of those lights that tells drivers they can enter the freeway during rush hour. Your friend should activate the stop watch in his/her hand as you accelerate. Continue until you hit 100 minutes. Then, again taking care to injure as few folks as possible, slam on the brakes, and begin backing slowly back and carefully towards the freeway entrance. Do you really think this would take less than 100 minutes? How many accidents will your actions cause? Think of all those that don't want you to be moving in the "wrong" direction will cause you to lose even more time. How, in any rational manner, can this mess be cause by the guy that JUST got elected? Did you REALLY lose your sense of reality or are you still waiting for Glinda the Good Witch to show up and fix this all? Sigh... I am afraid for the US. For EXACTLY your sentiment.

[JackRusselTerrier]

A better analogy of what is happening now is we're heading for a cliff. Instead of hitting the brakes and navigating to another direction, we're stepping on the gas.

No regulation = no change.

[TERRYKEITH4]

All of you can't see that bailing these bloodsuckers out with our hard earned tax dollars is the same thing as slavery. Oh! I'm sorry master let me help you keep my chains tightened so I can't get away. Let me help you with the whip master so you can continue to whip me for hundreds of years. Oh no, master I couldn't bare for you to not keep me enslaved. All of you can holler and scream about it all you want, but capitolism needs slaves and little people to survive on.... Ride the little people's backs.
Capitolism even failed last year, and you all still want to keep it alive.

[TheCowman]

The bailout is not Capitalism, the bailout was Corporatism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism

If this country were truly Capitalistic it would have let those bums go out of business.

[TheCowman]

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - F.D.R.

The problem with New York isn't that people are getting paid trillions of dollars. The problem is that the cost to live in New York is a trillion dollars.

The other day I was waiting to eat in a restaurant that was fairly expensive, about $15 for an entree and while I was outside waiting for my table a homeless person came by and asked me for $. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the nearest thing I found, which was a quarter and gave it to him.

After sitting down at dinner and looking around, I was shocked at the disparity of how just a moment ago a homeless person needed a quarter to get some food, yet here I was, amongst all these diners preparing to drop $50-$60 on a meal.

[petman2001]

Ah, but don't you know: the conservati­ves/libert­arains see homelessness as a lifestyle CHOICE,, therefore they are not entitled to your compasion or society's concern. Nice, huh?

[jerichoj8]

This is why NYC restricts handguns.

[constitutional 1]

Never see complaints on pages like this about actors getting 20 million per film or atheletes making a 100 million a year. a person's salary and or compensation is a private matter especially in a no government position.

[jerichoj8]

You're right. They should all be taxed HEAVILY.

[JackRusselTerrier]

While these entertainers are making gobbs of money, the average family has to scrimp and save just to see a ball game or go to a concert. At the same time taxes go to build stadiums which are privately owned.

I may never set foot in the door and I'm still paying. There are lots of words for this, Capitalism isn't one of them.

[johnpherson]

Tax the hell out of Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Tom Brady- there now are you happy? The rich enjoy disproportionate use of the wealth of nation as a whole so they the should be have to pay more for the all privileges and advantages hey have in our society.

[rockyersocksoff]

Funny I see that very complaint a lot, and it's nonsensical.

Is Tom Cruise a publicly traded company, beholden to investors?

Did Alex Rodriguez take federal bailout money?

This comparison is ridiculous. Entertainers get huge salaries IF they produce huge revenues.

Until you learn how to compare apples to apples, please refrain from commenting.

[petman2001]

It may not be my place to come to the defense of another poster here , but did you read constitutional 1's entire post. His last sentence states: "a person's salary and or compensation is a private matter especially in a no government position." His point, if I'm reading him correctly is that, like entertainers and sports figures, what folks' salaries are should not be overseen by the government. (I happen to disagree, but that's another argument.) Your rather abrupt libertarian command "Until you learn how to compare apples to apples, please refrain from commenting." seemed uncalled for. Perhaps YOU should refrain from throwing tomatoes at posters you disagree with (or THINK you disagree with.).

[itolduso]

I know a man, who 50 years ago, began devoting his life to creating art, and throughout those decades developed his skills to produce great works. With intelligence, thoughtfulness, humor, and passion, his paintings and sculpture have inspired and delighted people throughout the world. His work never brought him great wealth, but in his lifetime, his paintings have been used by schools & universities to teach & inspire the next generation. Among them, the University of London, the University of Virginia, The University of Vermont, the University of Northern Arizona. His work appears in textbooks (published by Oxford University Press) in Canada, and has been used by teachers in thousands of classrooms around the world. His sculpture remains in public exhibitions, and is used to benefit veterans, the homeless, and domestic violence victims. Long after he's gone, his children can travel to the Mid-East, to Singapore, to the U.K., to many corners of the globe, and still find his work in museums, libraries, and in classrooms. That is his legacy. We speak of 'compensation' as though money were the only measure- is that all we value? What will be remembered of these men with their big paychecks...will their children learn of raided companies, massive layoffs, outsourced jobs... their lifestyles of obscene excess? Is their 'gift' to the world only the pile of money they make?

[Jezdukowski]

///APPLAUSE/// Well said.

[Humanistic]

It's high-minded to speak of virtues and legacies that transcend material existence, but what about the many artists who never get a chance to develop their potential talent due to poverty, and thus the world never reaps the benefit? What about all the young people who end up committing crimes and being incarcerated in prisons because of their impoverishment through childhood? The goal of an advanced society should be to maximize its investment in human welfare and opportunity for all, not to allow a handful of greedy people to hoard all the wealth for themselves ("charitable contributions" notwithstanding). That is the failure of our system, which I think is horribly unjust and undemocratic.

[itolduso]

The artist I speak of knows all about poverty. He was born, dirt-poor, in 1938 just outside a border town called Pharr, Texas. His mother took his sister & left while he was still a child. His dad, who was losing his eyesight, found work stringing line between ranches for the W.P.A., the boy tending stock & working fields throughout the farms & ranches of the southwest. Doing a man's work before he was a teen, he never even started high school. I agree that it should not be so hard to create in this country, but poverty or lack of formal education is not a good enough excuse, because they can and have been overcome. What can't be overcome is the pervasive attitude that success is something to be 'won', that it's measured only in material wealth, that it can be inherited, that 'steps' can be skipped, or taken at a cost to others. In this country, everybody wants to start at the top, only 'instant' reward worth pursuing. No care for tomorrow, no value placed on what we leave behind. This country has many that started from nothing, and with patience, hard-work, dedication, curiousity, and a firm belief in what was important, built & created wonderful, useful & beautiful treasures that benefit us all. But their names will never make a 'list' in our popular news magazines, their stories passed over in favor of the garish, obscene or shocking. Like this one.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Thank for defining one example of the true measure of wealth. Great post.

[Dennis60]

I just returned from McDonnalds where I was served by miss attitude with surly behavior and 0 customer service skills. I believe she is grossly overpaid, and just cost that store a customer.

[petman2001]

And you compare her "overpayment" to be equivalent to the grossly inflated salaries of crooked CEOs? If they are indeed the same, then we can only assume that the McD employee will keep her job indefinitely (and get a year end bonus to boot) despite her performance. Not likely. If she was indeed as unprofessional as you suggest, she has probably already been shown the door. Alas, the same can not be said for the CEOs with grieviously more serious offenses.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Exactly. Most people who under perform in their job loose that job. They don't get to keep it and collect a bonus too. The rude employee probably wont get employee of the month.

[petridish]

Too bad there is not a selection for all our congresscritters and senacrooks. Make that most of the .gov employees actually.

[madashellvoter]

What would you know about government employees, I can say that about the private sector also!

[petridish]

Lets see....

1. Public employee pay is now on par and/or surpassing private sector pay
2. .gov employees enjoy health care options we would all give our right leg for
3. .gov employees have the best retirement package...private sector ,401k's that were never meant as a retiremant plan
4. Job security due to their UNION representation and OPM largesse(other peoples money)
5. More paid days off then any private sector employment.... and by a VERY WIDE margin

Best of all it is paid for by the people who have none of these bennies.... the private sector.

I think the tick is gettin bigger then the mutt

[GerryS]

we wonder why america is going in the toilet--

it is because of greedy people like thisare training our children to be even greedier.

I could easily and very, very comfortably live on ONE QUARTER
of 1% of the money paid yearly to these fools, cheats and charlatans­----------­--------

[conservatismontherise]

Better than Obama to train them laziness,i­ncompetenc­e,and Socialism

[johnpherson]

Socialism! If only it were the the truth. Conservatism is dead.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Democratic Socialist countries have the highest living standard in the world. America is not number one in any category that matters. Patriotism isn't flag waving. It's working constantly to improve our way of life.