Notes of Concern..
Jack blair
Thanksgiving give away
It is the day after Thanksgiving and Reuters has provided me with a listing of committed or approved capital expenditures (MONEY!) the U.S. Government (ACTING ON OUR BEHALF) has, or will, give to the following companies:
AIG $40 BILLION
JPMorganChase $25 BILLION
Citigroup $25 BILLION
Wells Fargo $25 BILLION
Bank of America $15 BILLION
Merrill Lynch $10 BILLION
Goldman Sachs $10 BILLION
Morgan Stanley $10 BILLION
PNC Financial Svcs $ 8 BILLION
U.S. Bancorp $ 7 BILLION
Here is a sample of what the Chief Executive Officers of some of these companies were paid:
In 2007, E. Stanley O'Neal (Merrill Lynch) raked in $24,306,586 in total compensation according to the SEC. According to the AFL-CIO's calculation method*, this CEO raked in $28,286,332 in total 2007 compensation.
In 2007, John J. Mack (Morgan Stanley) raked in $1,602,458 in total compensation according to the SEC. According to the AFL-CIO's calculation method*, this CEO raked in $41,790,854 in total 2007 compensation.
In 2007, Kenneth D. Lewis (Bank of America) raked in $24,844,040 in total compensation according to the SEC. According to the AFL-CIO's calculation method*, this CEO raked in $23,646,455 in total 2007 compensation.
I could list them all but why bother. As you would expect, they all were paid millions for what is today presumed to be BAD MANAGEMENT.
Now the government is dancing with the automobile industry. Here is an advance reminder of what some automobile CEO’s were paid:
In 2007, Alan Mulally (FORD) raked in $21,670,674 in total compensation according to the SEC. According to the AFL-CIO's calculation method*, this CEO raked in $22,750,385 in total 2007 compensation.
In 2007, G. Richard Wagoner (GM) raked in $14,415,914 in total compensation according to the SEC. According to the AFL-CIO's calculation method*, this CEO raked in $19,761,874 in total 2007 compensation.
You might ask: where does it stop?
When does the taxpayer stop bailing out massive business enterprises that have paid their executives millions of dollars annually for the decisions that placed those companies at risk and put our nation in crisis.
There are those who will argue that we must do this or the results will be more catastrophic than we can imagine.
I argue that this approach, should it fail to work, will leave the government ( TAXPAYERS ) holding worthless assets as collateral on loans and giveaways that run counter to the basic premises of capitalism and democracy.
