Andrew Cuomo wants $40 billion bonuses returned

Thunder

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The scary part about this is that NPR reported yesterday (IIRC) that wall street paid out 18 billion in bonuses last year, down 44%. That means they paid out about 32 billion in bonuses the year before, or in other words that this year bonuses were down 14 billion dollars. Wikipedia places the NYC metropolitan area gross metropolitan product at 1.13 trillion in 2005. Thus the decrease in bonuses equals 1% of the economy for the metropolitan area, without accounting for any multiplier effect.

I think that these wall street types were overpaid for creating paper wealth, but it concerns me (since I live in the NYC metropolitan area) that a whole lot of people have grown to depend on that wealth. The readjustments are going to painful. Then again, people in Detroit have been undergoing painful readjustments for decades, so perhaps it is NYC's turn. When the dust settles, maybe you'll be able to buy a 2 bedroom condo in Manhattan for under $1 million.
 
gdnp said:
but it concerns me (since I live in the NYC metropolitan area) that a whole lot of people have grown to depend on that wealth. The readjustments are going to painful.
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Excuse me while I shed a tear.



{snif}


There, all done now.
 
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Alferd_Packer said:
Excuse me while I shed a tear.



{snif}


There, all done now.
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It's not the banker I'm worried about, it's the people that clean his floor, fix his car, stock the shelves at his grocery store, and dry clean his suits. They did nothing to create this mess.
 
I read earlier today that a lot of this bonus money is not money that was paid to the CEOs and such, but to the "worker bees" who derive most of their salary from bonuses, paid for performance.

This is populism politics on Cuomo's part. He's not going to make some big score in recouping bonuses from Merrill Lynch's top execs. Recovering ill-gotten lucre isn't important; what's important is stoking the public's wrath and making the yahoos think, "He's fighting for me, the little guy." He's just doing what attorneys-general always do, because it eventually sets them up for a run at the governor's mansion. Remember former NY governor Elliot Spitzer? Before he was a former governor, he was a former attorney general, famous for rooting out supposed Wall Street corruption (which makes one ask why he didn't do a better job of it...).
 
BPSCG said:
I read earlier today that a lot of this bonus money is not money that was paid to the CEOs and such, but to the "worker bees" who derive most of their salary from bonuses, paid for performance.
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Well, the average bonus is still $112,000, so I doubt these "worker bees" are going to get much sympathy from the average working stiff. The cost to the state and city, however, is substantial.
Mr. DiNapoli said the average Wall Street bonus declined 36.7 percent, to $112,000. That is smaller than the overall 44 percent decline because the money was spread among a smaller pool following thousands of job losses.

The comptroller said the reduction in bonuses would cost New York State nearly $1 billion in income tax revenue and cost New York City $275 million.
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gdnp said:
Well, the average bonus is still $112,000, so I doubt these "worker bees" are going to get much sympathy from the average working stiff. The cost to the state and city, however, is substantial.
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The thing is that these bonus's are a large part of the salary of these sorts of jobs. They tend to have a real salary of say $50,000 and then get that as a bonus.

So viewing these and bonus's and not a base part of employee compensation might not be correct.
 
ponderingturtle said:
The thing is that these bonus's are a large part of the salary of these sorts of jobs. They tend to have a real salary of say $50,000 and then get that as a bonus.

So viewing these and bonus's and not a base part of employee compensation might not be correct.
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Even so, the working stiff making $35K is unlikely to be too sympathetic.
 
parky76 said:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090130/bs_nm/us_cuomo_merill;_ylt=As8dtyDoSgbKeeLhgcVlNdhZ.3QA

All I gotta say is....."You go boy!!!"

I know its a conspiracy theory, but I think the folks at Merrill Lynch KNEW they were gonna go bankrupt, and gave the bonuses away early because they KNEW they could not justify such an action once their true financial situation was revealed. I believe a huge crime was committed here.

You go Cuomo!!!!
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Yeah and they said Bush trashed the constitution.
 
gdnp said:
They were right, IMHO. Who is being accused of constitution trashing here?
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Oh the takings clause of the 5th amendment for example


No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation
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Let's say you are the head of a failed company about to get a taxpayer handout. One day, the books are looking bleak. The next, billions of dollars get added to the plus column.

IT'S PARTY TIME.

What do the dullards in DC think will happen after they reward losers by giving them billions of dollars? Meanwhile, Obama rips Wall Street for reckless spending on bonuses - as he prepares to spend $800B+ that doesn't exist and serves Wagyu beef with cocktails at the White House. Anyone see a problem there LOL.

Hopeless Change, and other follies.
 
kallsop said:
Let's say you are the head of a failed company about to get a taxpayer handout. One day, the books are looking bleak. The next, billions of dollars get added to the plus column.

IT'S PARTY TIME.

What do the dullards in DC think will happen after they reward losers by giving them billions of dollars? Meanwhile, Obama rips Wall Street for reckless spending on bonuses - as he prepares to spend $800B+ that doesn't exist and serves Wagyu beef with cocktails at the White House. Anyone see a problem there LOL.

Hopeless Change, and other follies.
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I one thing that these pitchforkers overlook is that in Tarp 1 these banks were not given a choice whether they needed the money or not. It was an "offer they couldn't refuse".
 
There would be justice. The sheer chutzpah of giving yourselves 40 mil in bonuses while going out of business is just insane.
 
jj said:
There would be justice. The sheer chutzpah of giving yourselves 40 mil in bonuses while going out of business is just insane.
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Why? These are publicly held companies that answer to their shareholders. It is the shareholders that have the power to decide if the bonuses are out of line. It is none of governments business. I used to let Merrill manage my money and fired them since I didn't like what they were doing but I voted with my portfolio not with Cuomo.
 
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