Bailout Refunds Are Really About Escaping Pay Limits: Andrew Ross Sorkin

nytimes.com:

Bank of America is paying back $45 billion in taxpayer-provided bailout money, and the government now says it expects to get back $200 billion in those funds faster than it imagined. The banks are getting back on their feet, the markets have stabilized, even unemployment isn't as bad as many feared.

Great news, right?

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[jacob126]

11:19 PM on 12/31/2009

it;s soul Obama is taking advice from neoconservative, globalist economists like Bernanke, Geithner & Summers instead of existence many receptive to Krugman & Volcker.

jacob
Stop Credit Card Debt

[hypnotoad72]

10:14 AM on 12/10/2009

Does Citi do what Bank of America does?

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=301963

[invest in jobs]

11:01 AM on 12/09/2009

it;s unfortunate Obama is taking advice from neoconservative, globalist economists like Bernanke, Geithner & Summers instead of being more receptive to Krugman & Volcker.

hat tip to: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com
g

[shivasquest]

03:19 AM on 12/09/2009

It hard work............all that stealing.

[PhilipTaylor]

03:16 AM on 12/09/2009

1. Wall Street bonus pool estimate for 2009: $140 billion
2. Combined budget deficit estimate for 50 states in 2010: $142 billion
3. Average bonus at G0LDMAN: $700,000
4. US median income: $50,740
5. US Assistance to Wall Street: $23.7 Trillion
6. G0LDMAN Paying Bonuses of $26 Billion --- when they still owes AMERICA $54 Billion out of $64 Billion TAKEN FROM FED, FDIC, A1G, TARP!”

[PhilipTaylor]

03:17 AM on 12/09/2009

LIZ WARREN COP Study = Many problems in Financial Markets and Broader Economy remain after TARP

Goals of Congress NOT MET = Reestablishing stability and tools for rebuilding economy+ increase availability of credit to consumers and small businesses+130 Bank Failures+TOXIC Derivatives Still Growing + Stop 8 to 13 Million Foreclosures = TOTAL LOSER!

FED CONTINUES PROPPING UP WALL STREET!

[Steven Duke]

01:08 AM on 12/09/2009

Credit froze because banks no longer trusted each other. We guaranteed and continue to guarantee trillions in questionable assets. We took away rules that allowed them to go back to cooking the books. We paid off their bets that were backed by nothing by bailing out their counter parties, at 100% their face value, representing billions in literally counterfeit money. None of the underlying causes have been addressed. Let them pay back the TARP so that they can go back to their gratuitous bonuses and compensation. These frauds have been paying themselves more than their companies are worth for years. When they find themselves in the same position a couple of years down the road maybe the American people will finally get through our thick skulls that these people are nothing more than thieves. Maybe the next crash will finally get our attention. Maybe when America finally looks like Iceland when its financial system crashed these people will get their comeuppance. The system is unsustainable the only thing that has kept it going for 30 years are continual and increasingly massive bailouts from the taxpayers.

[dennissinned]

10:46 PM on 12/08/2009

"... the firm needed to repay the bailout money to offer a competitive compensation package." I'm all for attracting talent and paying top dollar for it. BUT, corporations have structured their packages so that the bonuses (really entitlements) are not tied to their CEOs performance. I'm lucky to work for a company that gives out bonuses but they're tied to every employee's performance. Why are CEOs exempt from this? Why are the Board of Directors allowing this to happen? We've seen this happen all the time but nothing has changed. It seems that the Democratic majority has no intention of turning back the clock when it comes to executive compensation. We have not seen the last of this. At least I don't carry a BA credit card.

[dlo2]

10:20 PM on 12/08/2009

The NYT quote from S&P did not move me. The ratings companies (and their recorded history of industry recommendations) who have been operating during these past 8 years must be subjected to new scrutiny for the protocols their principals/employees have followed...and whether and how much this modus operandi has contributed to the present economic crisis. I would like a government commission to determine what ethics issues might be uncovered by these groups, including S&P. This era should be a response to the unregulated climate that preceded the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

[BurtonOerney]

06:43 PM on 12/08/2009

The department of treasury already has capital requrements on any institution that wants to repay tarp funds. That means nobody just decides to repay. They have to have enough in reserve to be self-sustaining and they have minimum loan performance requirements. I wonder why the article doesn't mention that.

[research]

07:05 PM on 12/08/2009

CDS, the cause of the crash, still has no reserve requirements.

[bereasonable0]

05:37 PM on 12/08/2009

This is to be expected. Govt controls on compensation is an incentive to get the TARP money repaid. Now that we have stepped back from the cliff we should be able to manage the situation differently if they come back looking for another handout. This is the time to figure out how to best dissolve them when they do come back as it seems experts are predicting.

[BurtonOerney]

06:37 PM on 12/08/2009

...and not coincidentally, that's exactly what's happening. No matter what emerges from the regulation talks, we'll get increased capital requirements and, of course, the federal government will have the power to disolve non-bank financial institutions.

[invest in jobs]

03:37 PM on 12/08/2009

This is further proof that the US government is ineffectual at everything except enabling the plundering of everything we, the American people, work for by the corporate elite.
good articles; http://financeopinionss.blgospot.com

Government & multi-national corporations like peas in a pod

[joebaggadonuts]

04:05 PM on 12/08/2009

I hate to plunder a Rumsfeldism but you are governed by the government you have, not by the one you wish you had.

Simply assuming it can not be reformed is the GOP way. I apologize if you are not making that assumption, but it sounds like you are.

The GOP have been proven to be failures at governing, failures at war, failures at industrial policy, failures at environmental protection, failures at providing healthcare for all, failures at financial regulation, and failures at raising education levels. It seems that so far Obama is trending down that same road, supported by many of the thousand points of darkness left over from Bush 1 and Bush 2 and Clinton.

Insisting publicly on the GOP viewpoint turns off young and impressionable progressive leaning independent voters who care about the future. Fortunately they have the internet to work with, so the policy of turning off voters might fail. Reform of the idiocracy takes time and effort at the individual level. Individual responsibility which Bush preached is key, but when time to define it came, Bush suggested that we should show responsibility by shopping and taking out mortgages we couldn't afford.

Quit falling for the GOP mindf--k. My apologies if you haven't.

[ErnestineBass]

11:15 PM on 12/08/2009

LOL...plunder a Rumsfeldian...Good one!

[Silverwolf72]

03:34 PM on 12/08/2009

Where did all this extra money come from so fast!

[bereasonable0]

05:38 PM on 12/08/2009

kinkos

[Steven Duke]

01:26 AM on 12/09/2009

A fed rate of 0% while they charge everyone 30% on credit cards and revolving credit that's a 30 point spread, that would make a Shylock blush. Add to that the relaxing of accounting standards, trillions in guarantee's on dubious assets, and the bailout of counter parties at 100 cents on the dollar (the infamous paying off of GS's CDO's and IRS's through the AIG bailout) You can't forget the P/E ratio's that have been created by the buying up of smaller banks and the fact that the FDIC is practically paying the Monopolies to take over those smaller banks (130 this year) And of course the righties favorite trick pony, for every dollar given to the bank on the front end they can count as ten on the back end i.e. fractional reserve. Non-bank entities, the gambling banks/the investment banks do not have capitol reserve limits, but of course they all became bank holding companies to get a peice of the bailout which means they are limited to 12 to 1 capitol ratios-they must have $1 on deposit for every 12 they lend-of course the big boys all got wavers so that they don't have to meet those requirements. Starting to get the picture?

[research]

02:55 PM on 12/08/2009

Barrow money and run down your reserves to pay back TARP funds.

Then give unregulated giant multi billion dollar bonusse, further depleting capital reserves.

Then when the next bad bet crashe3s the system again,

Go screaming to TARP that you have no money to pay your bets,

but are 2BIG2FAIL

[munki]

01:05 PM on 12/08/2009

Can anyone tell me if excessively high paid CEO and/or Senior Executives really worth of curve into corporate profit?

Pyramid management system may be of the past... we need to adjust our business school text books or business books as a whole...

Tell me about it... one of my paper I wrote many years ago... increase in global competition shift american corporate - otherwise... we cannot compete!!!!!

[IncludeMeOut]

12:54 PM on 12/08/2009

Do yourself a favor-Bank with community banks instead of the big boys. Service is great, no tricks, no hidden fees. Transfer credit card debt to a credit union.

[munki]

01:07 PM on 12/08/2009

Looking into it now... tired of giving money to big banks not lending, but thinking how much more can we get from consumer then "to meet the pay of our senior management's needs"...