Broken Securities Industry Still Has $20 Billion to Pay Bonu

SETIsLady · Post by **SETIsLady** » 10-27-2008 10:32 PM

By Christine Harper and Serena Saitto

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Five straight quarters of losses and a 70 percent slide in its stock this year haven't stopped Merrill Lynch & Co. from allocating about $6.7 billion to pay bonuses.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, both still on track for profitable years, have set aside about $13 billion for bonuses after three quarters, down 28 percent from a year ago. Even some employees at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which declared the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history last month, will get the same bonus they received a year ago.

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a $700 billion taxpayer bailout, public outcry over excessive pay and the demise of three of the biggest securities firms won't deter Wall Street from offering year-end rewards to employees on top of their salaries, compensation experts say.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

Psychicwolf · Post by **Psychicwolf** » 10-27-2008 11:15 PM

All those companies were the first at the public trough too. Grrrrr:mad:

SETIsLady · Post by **SETIsLady** » 10-28-2008 05:41 PM

Waxman eyes CEO pay at banks getting gov't cash

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The nine largest U.S. banks receiving $125 billion from the government were asked on Tuesday to hand over information about their compensation and bonus plans to a Congressional panel.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the U.S. House oversight committee, sent letters on Tuesday to the banks' chief executives asking them to provide information about the total compensation paid or projected to be paid to the 10 highest paid employees for the last three years.

Waxman, who has publicly blasted other executives for their lavish pay packages, wants the information broken down by salaries, bonuses and benefits and a description of the reasons for the year-to-year changes in the amounts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNew ... 9520081028

Psychicwolf · Post by **Psychicwolf** » 10-28-2008 05:48 PM

He won't get any regs through Congress regarding this until Congress reconvenes in January with a larger Dem majority. The Rethugs will have to pay their buddies back and the bonuses are paid in December.

OMG · Post by **OMG** » 10-28-2008 08:51 PM

These companies were giving out bonus when they saw the company was going to struggle. Now they got some "free money" why not expect them to take that as well.

skydancer · Post by **skydancer** » 10-31-2008 06:38 PM

This has been a hot topic between my friends and I this past week.

Most of us don't understand how they can continue to con congress out of more money. Geez Whiz that's the name of the game "Give me all your dough and I'll invest it"

It makes sense to me how they can expect bonus's for ripping off the public.
That's what investment bankers do for a living.