Malefactors of Great Wealth

Are these idiots literally so rich and drowning in money that they can't understand how absolutely disgraceful all this is? I just can't imagine how any normal human being would think it's a good idea. What is wrong with their brains? There are obvious answers for this, but no good answers. It doesn't make sense.

But don't you understand? If these guys don't get their millions in bonuses, they'll start looking for another job elsewhere? Then who's gonna drive the financial markets further into the ditch? Huh? Answer me that, Joe Klein!

Kick some Republican ass!
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And isn't $20,000,000,000 in "bonuses" 6.7 times as large as the the entire welfare budget of the United States.
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Now, riddle me this, Batman:
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Just who are the real "welfare queens" here...

I hope these conversations contain at least a mention of pliers and bamboo shoots and a large man named Guido.

I think most Americans at this point want some sort of governement action to this recession. What we don't like is having our tax dollars sent to bail out a company where the principle people who screwed said company into the ground are still at their jobs. Spending our collective money on trips to the spa, bonsus and $300K toilet seats. Sort of makes the masses a tad upset. How about getting rid of the leadership who rammed these companies into the ground? How about cutting executive pay in exchange for bailout money? How about making these companies pay back any money that is not spent in actually fixing the company? But is spent instead on say a $2K paper trash bin.

Kaff, kaff. Ahem.
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Let's not mention that the GOP just handed out 7,200,000,000,000 dollars to these cretins (or, should I dare say: themselves?).
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The amount of money handed out by the GOP is so large that, if the days weren't shorter then, take, at 0% interest, $131 dollars a month for every year in the 4,586,000,000 year life of this planet!

I don't understand where these companies' boards and shareholders are. Bonuses are supposed to be paid out based on profits and returns. When you don't have any, you don't get a bonus. These companies LOST money. That means, irregardless of the bailout, they shouldn't be handing out bonuses.
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The people that are supposed to enforce this are the board of directors, which is supposed to represent the shareholders, who own the company, and whose investment is getting destroyed. Where are the boards in this mess? Where are the investor lawsuits? That's what I don't get.

Remember: When poor people get money from the government, it's welfare. When the rich get money from the government, it's another example of the invisible hand of the free market at work.

Retro active retrieval of the bonus handouts! New law with punishment
for bankers misrepresenting use of money bailout $'s.
Ask some high school kids to read the legislation and find the loop holes. Put strings and time frames on government monies. This pollyanna
'you must be responable' junk is unconvincing.

A commenter on another thread posits that this is just a little S&M- kabuki by Obama, after he gave them their $7.2B no-strings-attached trust fund. I'm inclined to agree -- these Wall Street types won't follow rules, if the rules aren't part of their bailout. Why should they? Nobody's legislating HOW they spend this money. The optics might be bad, but they can legally purchase planes, trains, autos -- and bonuses with our hard-earned tax dollars. They can even light the entire $7.2B on fire, if they want to. Ain't nothing we -- or Obama -- can really do about it. Is there?

Joe, let me guess...no jail, make em empty bed pans or re-sod the National Mall right? The fact that I woke up this morning and these people weren't dragged from their homes, hung from the nearest tree and their houses burned to the ground while in my slumber is an indication that the people of this country don't have what it takes keep this country from sinking.

incandenzah:
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That's 7.2G. One thousand times more money than 'B'.

 
At some point, someone will have to do a cost-benefit analysis, and realize that these people need to be killed.
 
The country would be better off if the vacancies were filled with brain-damaged monkeys, or me.
 

SeanDeCoursey, if you read the annual proposals that stockholders are asked to vote on, you will note that the bonuses are carefully described to follow the principles of reward for profit, but there are pages and pages of fine print weasel words and it is impossible to tell on what basis they are really distributed. I have been routinely voting no on all executive compensation proposals for several years, but my 100 or 200 shares mean nothing. The big shareholders are unions and pension plans. They need to take an activist role. Most boards are made up of people (mostly male) who have been, or are, CEOs at other corporations, so they all scratch each other's back. I also don't vote to elect anyone to the board who is on more than one other corporate board. And, these directors often get $150,000 plus expenses to serve on the board.

I could serve on a board!

Wall Street, CNBC and WSJ have colluded in this shameless self service called the bonus system. Ask Maria Bartiromo ( who is in Davos with her sucking up routine) and her pals why they never raised this issue. Because they palled around with these people. As for Congress: think Abramoff. Our Congress critters, by and large, are bought and paid for. Chuck Schumer is but the latest example of the blind leading the blind when it comes to keeping Wall Street in check.

Paulson: we had the fox guarding the henhouse?

Where were our Villagers when all this happened? Polishing apples and mixing with Alan Greenspan, his NBC spouse and other VIPS.

The Village is only now working up a mild indignation. They held these pirates up as saviours. Which says a great deal about their financial acumen, may only their acumen?

"You go guy"
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Well, we Obamabots want to believe in the rhetoric, but the earlier alluded to "$23 billion in old-fashioned tax breaks to corporations" makes even the faithful grimace.

53_3: Gratzie. Gs, Bs, Ms, Ks... my Waterloo.

jcapan, didn't a bunch of employees murder the CEO of a failed Japanese business w/ machetes in his office a few years back? Couldn't something like that go a long way to keeping these people in line?

Don't recall that one Cincy--I was here from '99-'02 and just returned last year. More commonly, scandal-tainted execs or pols take to the press conference to apologize profusely, bowing down in shame. Watching the nightly news, sometimes it feels like Groundhog Day. Mind you, their prostration/humiliation hardly seems to curb the scandal du jour culture. Of course, when apology just doesn't cut it, there's jisatsu, the ultimate act of accountability (i.e. suicide).
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“Corporate noblesse oblige in Japan even today can impel managers to more than resignation: in extreme cases, only suicide may be perceived by traditionalists as restoring honour to the organization”
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Fisse and Braithwaite, Corporations, Crime and Accountability

jcapan: Our CEO's need incentive to do the right thing. Get a few Brink's trucks filled with cash. Have the CEO's jump from a 20 story building. The one who survives gets all the trucks. Greed can be good.

Joe, we're happy you're happy with el presidente, but spare us the starry eyed man-crush. We've seen it before and it's still cringe worthy. You don't need to go P-luk on us, but you're veering towards idolatry here.

I wonder if there's still time for him to add criminal prosecution to his "style".

Why the WH isn't 100% green energy is beyond me. Why his beast of a limo isn't a hybrid or running on cat-farts too. Images count--where Gore and Edwards live is important. Don't preach to the little people when you live in a f'ing castle and drive a tank.

Good heavens, jcapan, the man doesn't even know where all the bathrooms are yet!
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But by this time next year, we ought to expect some or all of the following:
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Turf roof on the White House - unless it's too heavy for the very old structure, in which case there should be a
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Solar panel roof.
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Bullet-proof 6-passenger Prius with ninja adepts included.
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Wind-farms on the White House and Capital grounds [insert obligatory politician "wind" joke here].
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Climate-controlled nanotechnology garments for the First Family, which will allow all HVAC equipment in their quarters to be mothballed. Malia's will have a picture of her favorite Jonas brother; the President's will have a big red 'O' on the chest.
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A 6 gigvaolt Tesla coil retrofitted to the Washington Monument.