re: Chris Dodd & The Stimulus Package...
What did Chris Dodd do?
It's very simple...
He removed the cap on salaries. Geithner's plan imposed
a $500k salary cap. And Dodd removed it.
And it's not just "what" he did, it's "how" he did it.
He snuck his provision in, in the dead of night.
Here's reality...
The public is raising holy hell, and screaming bloody murder about...
"how dare the banksters pay themselves bonuses while they're
writing off billions in losses, and had to have the taxpayer bail them out?"
This anti-bonus mentality isn't going to go away. These banks
are not going to be able to pay top exec's "bonuses" for a
very long time. And with Geithner's $500k salary cap, the banksters
needed a way to get around these limits, and Dodd just gave it
to them.
Dodd didn't crack down on anybody... he gave them an out.
The banks can now simply raise salaries.
And they can use the "brain drain" and bonus cap excuse to do so.
Dodd's restriction that bonuses can only be paid in "restricted stock"
is a red herring, since he does away with any limits on salary.
Quoting the New York Times, here's what Dodd's proposal would do:
nytimes.com
"... prohibit cash bonuses and almost all other incentive
compensation for the five most senior officers and the 20
highest-paid executives at large companies that receive money
under the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP."
["A key point is that this only applies to the "top 20 exec's."
For example there were over 700 at Merrill alone who were paid over $1m in bonuses.
nytimes.com
Only the top 20 get capped, there will be hundreds and hundreds of others who will have no caps.]
"The revised rules do not impose a formal cap on executive
compensation, unlike the Treasury proposal."
"...experts on executive compensation warned that the
restrictions could unleash unintended consequences, like
encouraging banks to increase salaries to make up for
diminished incentive pay. "
=============================================================
The end run?
Simply bump up base salaries.
Dodd's proposal doesn't protect the taxpayer, and neither
did Geithner's.
Geithner's plan had two huge holes in my opinion.
1. Geithner's plan places no caps on bonuses, just the form
of payment - restricted stock.
2. It does not apply retroactively to firms that have already
received TARP funds, only to firms who receive TARP funds
going forward.
So, if Goldman Sachs doesn't take any additional TARP funds,
it's not affected by these restrictions.
They can simply take their $10 Billion of our money, and lever
it up at 15-20:1 to $100-$200 Billion dollars, and buy up
assets at pennies on the dollar, that their branch office at
the Treasury orders other banks to dump!
America... what a country!
And you think the Oligarch's raped & pillaged Mother Russia?
Trust me.... you ain't seen nothing yet.
This isn't the last stimulus package, or the last bank bailout package.
Just wait until they offer (taxpayer)"guaranteed" low rate financing
to hedge funds & private capital, so they can use our taxpayer
money to lever up, and buy assets at pennies on the dollar
that they force banks to dump.
Neither plan does the taxpayer justice. They both suck.
Salaries and bonuses should both be capped. And bonuses
should only be payable in restricted stock, not cash.
I think the $500k salary cap is fair, as are bonuses capped at
1/3rd of base salaries.
Brain drain?
Where are they going to go? Private equity? Or, the hedge funds
industry where 65% of them won't even exist in 18-24 months?
Let them go, or let them start up their own firms. Let them
make all the money in the world... no limits, and no caps!
Just go out and do it in the free market, on their dime,
not on yours and mine.
If they can't work for a $500k salary and a bonus up to
another $166k, let them go out into the free market and
find work like the 500,000 Americans who are losing their
jobs every month.
Chris Dodd is the posterchild of everything that's wrong
with our political system.
He's a career politician who's never worked an honest day in his life.
He's a crook.
And he's a pompous, blowhard, hypocrite.
At the very least... he should have been forced to resign
from the Senate after his two sweetheart "Friends of Angelo"
mortgage loans came to light.
I still can't believe that he wasn't forced to resign, or
wasn't impeached.
And impeachment aside, how in the hell was he still able to
hang onto his Senate Banking Committee chairmanship?!?!?
The problem we have, is that these POS think that they're
the new ruling class.
Did you see them preen on television last week?
Do they know when the camera's on, or what?
These scumbags think they're #@$%'n movie stars!?!?
There was no atmosphere of deep concern for the economic
devastation affecting millions of Americans.
This was all about the new ruling class, preening, parading,
and exercising partisan political pay back.
...nothing more, nothing less.
All personalities aside...
Our political system is broken beyond repair.
The #@$%'n Lobbyists had this bill in hand, before Congress did!
And what happened to Obama's promise that these major pieces
of legislation would be posted online, and be open for public
discussion for 5 days, before being voted on?
Congress was forced to vote on the single most important piece
of legislation of our lifetime... without being able to even
read it!
Did we not learn ANYTHING over the secret meetings behind
closed doors, and Paulson's bum rush under the threat of
Martial Law, with TARP I ?
This bill was written by, and for lobbyists... not the
American people.
Democrat, or Republican, it matters not... this is a travesty.
What was the rush?
Why couldn't this have been posted publicly for a week, to
give the American people the time to read, debate, and express
their opinion with their elected representatives that they
sent to Washington to be their voice?
The American people had no voice, or representation in writing
this bill, or on it's vote.
This isn't a republic, or democracy in action.
This is a kleptocracy being run by multi-national corporations,
and the bankster-gangsters.
What the hell has happened to America?
We rolled over and let Bush steal the rights, freedoms and
liberties that our forefathers fought, and died for...
all in the name of protecting us from the invisible enemy,
called -- "terrorism?"
Then we rolled over, and let Hank Paulson bum rush us into
handing the bankster-gangsters a blank check, and having
Ben Bernanke refuse to disclose how the money was spent.
And now... we got "rolled" again.
Because not only did "we" get shut completely out of the
political process, but so did the representatives that we
thought we elected, and sent to Washington to represent us.
We didn't get a voice. And our representatives didn't get
a voice, or even the chance to cast an informed vote.
This was jammed down our throats by the lobbyists who have
bought and paid for key committee chairman like Chris Dodd.
We should all be ashamed.
We don't deserve to call ourselves Americans, or to even fly our flag.
...not any more.
...not after rolling over again.
...not after letting the bankster-gangsters steal our money,
our freedom, and our children's future.
To do so, would be an insult to those who came before us,
and who fought and died, to make sure what just happened,
never would.
S.O.T.B. |
