Letters to the Editor
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$12 million is CEO chump change
A midlevel fund manager on Wall St. makes $12 million. VP's at my Fortune 50 non financial company make that.
I'm guessing you want them stripped naked and flogged then burned at the stake or something reasonable like that? Maybe cut off a hand a-la Sharia?
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No Oversight + No Laws = No Penalties
The worst part of this (well, maybe not the worst but it's up there) is that, based upon what I've read, no laws have been broken. Thus, there is nothing to litigate regarding criminal misbehavior. These guys will walk with whatever remains ($12 million vs. $1 billion) and return to their golf or bridge games, only slightly worse for the wear. Yet the lack of oversight (a pro-market stance encouraged by Alan Greenspan, among others) which implies at some level the existence of actual law, if it continues, will only perpetuate this problem. Given that, Bear Sterns might be the first but it certainly won't be the last. Our elite, yes, they clearly deserve that title. Stalwart, ethical and moral, all.
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blank
I'm reminded of the old joke about the newcomer to Hell who finds everyone standing around waist deep in sewage drinking cold drinks.. He gets a drink and starts thinking to himself "hey, it could be worse".. At that point a massively muscled, twelve foot tall demon with a huge pitchfork comes by and shouts "OK, break time is over, everybody back on your heads"..
I think that would be sufficient..
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Dear Mr. Blank--
No. You guess wrong. But since the money was made on speculation and did not contribute to the well-being of most citizens of this country, and since the performance threatens to cause serious trouble for most of the citizens of this country, it would seem fair to require such speculators to live on the sorts of income the rest of us make. Say $50,000 a year, no more. You would not feel obligated to pay a dentist who wrecked your teeth. Why should we feel obligated to reward the poor fellow who helped wreck a financial system and has to get by on the "chump change" of $12,000,000?
That phrase is thoroughly repulsive, by the way. The person who uses it indicates contempt for those who do not have as much money as he or she does. If you are bragging, you have attained the reward of braggarts everywhere. If you are trying to persuade, you will not generate much sympathy. If you are threatening, you have misguaged your opponents.
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@blank
"I'm guessing you want them stripped naked and flogged then burned at the stake or something reasonable like that? Maybe cut off a hand a-la Sharia?"
I'd settle for them being pelted with rotten tomatoes. (After being stripped of their ill-gotten gains, of course.)
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hyperbole?
"the collapse of those hedge funds will likely be remembered by future economic historians as the Wall Street meltdown equivalent of the assassination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand."
OK, I'm really worried about this recession, but isn't comparing it to World War I a bit excessive?
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In the words of the eminent philosopher Nelson Muntz...
Ha-Ha!
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@Mike J Y Wood
"OK, I'm really worried about this recession, but isn't comparing it to World War I a bit excessive?"
I don't know. What do you think might happen if the other countries we have been forced to borrow money from suddenly start attaching strings to the loans? How might Dubya react if he was told "No more money unless you get our of Iraq"?
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Who pocketed how much...it's staggering.
Well, these guys may have to hold off an second new Gulfstream for the kids or the dogs but:
'Over five years, from 2002 through 2006, Cayne took home total compensation—salary, bonus, restricted stock, and stock options—worth a combined $156 million. Current CEO Schwartz made $141 million. Former Co-President Warren Spector, deposed after the hedge fund debacle, did the best of them all, reaping $168 million. '
'Gold and the Three Bears' - Ben Levisohn
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080318_586339.htm
The FIRE economy, accounting for 5% of US employment, has been scamming 40% of all corporate profits.
'Here's a staggering figure to contemplate: New York City securities industry firms paid out a total of $137 billion in employee bonuses from 2002 to 2007, according to figures compiled by the New York State Office of the Comptroller. Let's break that down: Wall Street honchos earned a bonus of $9.8 billion in 2002, $15.8 billion in 2003, $18.6 billion in 2004, $25.7 billion in 2005, $33.9 billion in 2006, and $33.2 billion in 2007.'
'The Fed's Too Easy on Wall Street' - Chris Farrell
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/mar2008/pi20080318_697440.htm?chan=
top+news_top+news+index_top+story
A single bonus season, 2006 or 2007, take your pick, was more than all the wage increases to the bottom 80% of the wage earners since 2000.
Michel Camdessus : “The widening gaps between rich and poor within nations are morally outrageous, economically wasteful, and potentially socially explosive. It is not enough to increase the size of the cake. The way it is shared is deeply relevant.”
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There May Have Been Illegal Activity
The WSJ has reported that prior to the collapse of Bear Stearns, as early as March 7, put options on the price of Bear stock started to increase. The put options bet that the stock price would drop precipitiously. During the week prior to the collapse, the put options increased in number to over 450,000 from a number of under 150,000.
The article can be found at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120597050222250293.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Let's review
"No. You guess wrong. But since the money was made on speculation and did not contribute to the well-being of most citizens of this country, "
-kill all professional athletes and entertainers.
"and since the performance threatens to cause serious trouble for most of the citizens of this country, it would seem fair to require such speculators to live on the sorts of income the rest of us make. "
-debtor's prisons, slavery, theft of all assets. I like it. So did Pol Pot.
'Say $50,000 a year, no more. You would not feel obligated to pay a dentist who wrecked your teeth. '
-I might not. that wouldn't change the necessity of doing so. that's what civil court is for.
"Why should we feel obligated to reward the poor fellow who helped wreck a financial system and has to get by on the "chump change" of $12,000,000?"
-who is we? did you personally force him to buy 5% of his own company?
"That phrase is thoroughly repulsive, by the way. The person who uses it indicates contempt for those who do not have as much money as he or she does. If you are bragging, you have attained the reward of braggarts everywhere."
-I don't care. take it up with the folks here who love to tell you how wonderful their own OCD is as they prattle on about 'nit-picking' Fact is, Fidel, the average compensation of a CEO in the US is substantially more than that. if that bothers you then grab a Molotov cocktail and kill the plutocrats. I mean Bono is damned close to a billionaire and Zack de la Roca never has to work another day in his raging Marxist life. How is that acceptable to you?
"If you are trying to persuade, you will not generate much sympathy. If you are threatening, you have misguaged your opponents."
-Again, I don't care. I don't need more friends and I don't think of you as 'opponents'. Maybe the problem is people like you who are truly deluded the world revolves around them?