The report said bonuses for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were “substantially greater” than the banks’ net income.
Goldman earned $2.3 billion, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding, the report said.
Morgan Stanley earned $1.7 billion, paid $4.475 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding, while JP Morgan Chase earned $5.6 billion, paid $8.69 billion in bonuses and received $25 billion in TARP funding.
The latter bank paid out 1,626 bonuses of $1 million or more, the most of all the banks studied in the report, while Goldman, which had the highest average compensation per employee, paid out 953 bonuses of $1 million or more.
Cuomo said his office studied historical financial filings and found that at many banks compensation increased in the 2003-2006 bull market years, but stayed at those levels as the mortgage crisis and recession hit.
“Thus, when the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well. And when the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well. Bonuses and overall compensation did not vary significantly as profits diminished.
Continue reading Some U.S. Bank Pay “Unmoored” From Performance
Solari lists the worst banks in America in the article
“The U.S. Banking Tapeworm”
http://solari.com/archive/bank_locally/tapeworm_20_banks
Near the top of the list, in 4th place, you find BB&T. Its chairman is John Allison, who donates to the so-called Ayn Rand Institute. What evidence, if any, exists that BB&T launders drug money? Has it done anything comparable to what Goldman Sachs has done in the way of insane bonuses? Why is this _particular_ bank on the list?
Don’t give much hope that this will occur any time soon. Remember the words of Muggeridge…
“That the depravity of man is at once the most empirical verifiable reality and at the same time the most intellectual resistant fact.”
Jerry
Catherine and readers,
A must read link.
http://market-ticker.org/archives/1287-ROFL!-FDIC-Tells-Banks-To-Quit-Cooking-The-Books!.html
At first, he says, “Oh, My God!” and then goes into the insolvency of the banks as they are not accurately valuing the assets they hold on the books…
We are how far into this financial mess? and the bankers are still not telling the truth.. and giving themselves bonuses.
They must know that they are insolvent and they are making the run on the banks themselves. The bonuses are hush money. Financial reward has become the substitute for a conscience for these people.
The invocation of God is warranted. It is only through honesty that this will ever be resolved and I pray that our leaders and the bankers have the courage to face the truth. The recent decisions have been made in fear. If you look at the human condition that has led to this, you will find greed, and fraud. The charade continues for fear of discovery of the gross negligence and fraud. The dancing around in Foggy Bottom, the hearings, the finger-pointing, and the double-speak are all an elaborate delay of dealing with reality. Our banks are insolvent and the moral bankruptcy has to be acknowledged so that we can move on.
It is going to take a lot of courage… or the release of fear to stop this merry-go-round. How hard is it for the bankers to just say, “We have been crooks and are willing to face the consequences, but the well-being of all of the world is more important that our continued exploitation of the rest of the planet.”?
How bad would the consequences for these people be? They go to jail, face public humiliation, but it is no worse than living in the mental state of fear of being caught. They have done the damage. They extend the financial suffering of others by continuing to cook the books.
It is past time for acknowledgement of the fraud. It is time for cleansing. Is there one honest CEO who will stand up and show some leadership in this matter? Does the fear of exposure, perhaps the fear of physical harm or exposure of past deeds keep these people on this treadmill? Even with all that money, there has to be great suffering for what they are doing. Bernard Madoff lived in terror all those years. Now he has no chance of perpetrating another fraud on society and society has seen fit to put him in a situation where he can resolve his debt. He probably has more peace now than he has had in decades.
On the other hand, Michael Milken perpetrated a great fraud on society, went to jail for a short time and resurrected himself (to the world’s detriment) with a public relations campaign. He was able to keep his wealth and power. Much of the current crisis can be traced back to his coterie at Drexel. Mark Mitchell has done a series of 15 articles at http://www.deepcapture.com making the connections between what is happening now and the fraudulent financial instruments that had their beginnings with Milken. Mitchell explores Milken’s involvement in cancer drugs and how his charity has influenced which drugs get play in the market.
“We had learned further that Milken’s “philanthropic” outfit, the Prostate Cancer Foundation supported Novacea, Cougar and Cell Genesys. The Prostate Cancer Foundation’s support for these companies preceded announcements that they had signed massive deals with large pharmaceutical companies. In the cases of Novacea and Cell Genesys, those deals were soon cancelled on the news that their treatments were ineffective, and the companies’ investors quickly dumped their stock. This fact, combined with other evidence, suggests that the Prostate Cancer Foundation was supporting what amounted to sophisticated “pump and dump” schemes.”http://www.deepcapture.com/michael-milken-60000-deaths-and-the-story-of-dendreon-chapter-15-of-15/