Bank Of America CEO Moynihan: 'No Disconnect' Between Lavish Exec Bonuses And The Crumbling Economy (VIDEO)

ABC News caught up with the nation's top banking CEOs after they left Congress's financial hearings and the contrite attitude they displayed to Congress regarding their role in bringing the U.S. economy to the brink was nowhere to be seen when reporter Jonathan Karl asked them about extravagant bonuses.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told Karl that he saw "no disconnect" between lavish bonuses for executives at bailed out banks during a very tough economic climate for the average American.

Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack , despite foregoing his own bonus, cryptically defended giving bonuses to his executives: "You have got to the deal with them, or I will deal with them."

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon wouldn't answer.

WATCH:

Comments

[MayorQuimby]

02:16 PM on 01/15/2010

This article is FULL OF DOODY.

The READ BAILOUT was and is the FEDERAL RESERVE OVERPAYING and BUYING BACK TRILLIONS of MBS and CDOs on behalf of the taxpayer.

http://www.istockanalyst.com/images/articles/Fed_Balance_Sheet_January_13_0201015446.jpg

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/3783515

[Liberal2]

01:58 PM on 01/15/2010

Here's some ideas:

1) A tax on total assets over (say) 5 million.

2) A higher tax on assets moved outside the US.

3) CIA "snatch" teams to bring American tax evaders back to the US for trial.

[my whitehouse]

11:46 AM on 01/15/2010

let's move our money!
hat tip to http://iamned-website.blogspot.com

[Harrier]

11:34 AM on 01/15/2010

Unbelievable, no accountability and refuse to care about anyone else but themselves. They should not even be employed. I would rather see a recent college graduate in that position.

[Alpha11]

07:46 PM on 01/15/2010

Why are they still getting bonuses again?

[GenosseJoe]

08:41 PM on 01/15/2010

You can give all of your money to a recent college graduate. Do not forget to kiss your money good-buy though.

[petef59]

06:45 PM on 01/17/2010

Exactly. The new grad has been trained to emulate the business practices of these execs. EXECS WHO NEEDED TO BE BAILED OUT BY TAPAYERS AFTER PRACTICING BASIC FRAUD DRESSED UP AS CDO'S AND MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES.

[LaHenche]

03:40 AM on 01/15/2010

EFF BIG BANKS

http://www.photoanon.com/images/9dwpv520bdykji3hj52g.jpg

[AirViceMarshalPark]

01:09 AM on 01/15/2010

America will be happy when every tree in Central Park is decorated with a banker.

[Bettysdad]

03:01 AM on 01/15/2010

That might frighten the squirrels.

Drop 'em in the Hudson.

[LaHenche]

10:59 AM on 01/15/2010

That'd be an insult to Captain Sully. Any other ideas?...

[Y3rMawm]

06:00 AM on 01/17/2010

lol...we could, as taxpayers, collectively hire the mob to take care of our small problem

[J G H]

11:48 PM on 01/14/2010

It is possible to pay so much for the best tht you would be better off with the second or third best.
Example - a number of years ago, I saw that Disney had paid Michael Eisner $525 million that year. I told people that I would be willing to do his job for $1 million (plus free passes) and that if I made a half billion less than Eisner would have, the share holders would still be ahead by $24 million. (In fact, Eisner made several very costly mistakes in that period which I would not have made.) The financial wizards have not done nearly as well for their share holders as ghdif income suggests, and the damage they did not society really demands that they give back. The answer is to strip the tax code of special loopholes for the wealthy and return to the pre-Reagan tax brackets (adjusted for inflaction, of course.)

[Realization]

03:22 PM on 01/15/2010

Right. The tax rates of a good Republican President, Eisenhower. We need higher marginal tax rates so that the managers (that's all these glorified crooks are in most cases) put money back onto the firms they manage instead of ripping off the available wealth. All of them can be easily replaced. and then we need other policies to make it the norm that firms invest in development and the future through innovation (not financial) instead of leveraged buyouts. And that the benefits of American tech go to Americans.

[duxguts]

10:52 PM on 01/14/2010

What's to stop the big banks from buying the small banks where you move your money to?

[lar62]

01:28 AM on 01/15/2010

They already did!

[Realization]

03:22 PM on 01/15/2010

That's one of the problems. I use a credit union and USAA myself.

[Bettysdad]

03:03 AM on 01/15/2010

Then you move your money again.

Eventually they'll run out of money.

[boston998]

11:32 AM on 01/15/2010

Or you will run out of money

[ProFormaArtista]

10:28 PM on 01/14/2010

What? No prosecutions for sedition yet? These surely are economic subversives, yes? Oh my.

"My child. You see..., your representatives did not prosecute the Bush administration for subverting your political system then; There is no reason for you to expect your representatives to prosecute the Bankers for subverting the economy now. No. Your only viable solution now is to backtrack -- always difficuylt -- and undo the dozen years worth of deregulation as well as to institute a form of Universal Single Payer to finance campaigns. Try these. They may help."

[GUSTOV]

09:43 PM on 01/14/2010

we're capitalist pigs

&
we run piggy banks

[CindyKay]

08:29 PM on 01/14/2010

How about Paying a Large Fine / Penalty when You EFF things up ?

[Y3rMawm]

06:03 AM on 01/17/2010

no, just let them go bankrupt as they should have. Creative Destruction.

[CindyKay]

08:28 PM on 01/14/2010

I'd like to see a set of Vise-Grip locking pliers attached to their b@!!s and then

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEZE

[flipsideofit]

08:18 PM on 01/14/2010

"I blame the management tell 100%"

I don't know about them, but when I get blamed 100% for something going bad, I don't get a bonus.

Also, how pompus, WE have to deal with his management team's bonus. So, we have to deal with his management's team screw up AND their bonus. What exactly is he dealing with? That's right he has to deal with all of his customers that he screwed out of money.

But, don't worry, if we don't deal with his management's team's bonus he will.
O look there are pigs flying over there. :(

[hobo62]

08:03 PM on 01/14/2010

How about a nation wide strike? Just shut the whole damn system down for a day. Block highways, buy nothing, sell nothing, No phone calls, turn the damn tv's and computers off.

[Liberal2]

01:54 PM on 01/15/2010

That's what it's going to take.

Oddly enough, I think it may well happen before or at the beginning of 2012. Obama will do a "Johnson."

[Barrelhse]

07:29 PM on 01/14/2010

Oink Oink Oink Oink Oink