Politics | February 02, 2009 | 33 comments

Wallstreeters can't be expected to live on a mere $180,000 per year salary

source: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=6A0CDB3536F34D77244FE25B4EDBA364?diaryId=11291

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Scarabus
Another snippet for the I Shit You Not File: In the New York Times, a head hunter for banks defends the $18 billion in taxpayer-subsidized bonus payouts to Wall Street executives and traders by insisting that those executives and traders can't be expected to live on $150,000 to $180,000 a year - I shit you not:

"Without a doubt, $18 billion is a lot of money, but it's a drop in the bucket on Wall Street," said Gustavo Dolfino, president of the WhiteRock Group, a headhunter for the banks. "These bonuses are down, and the salaries are not enough for these people. They can't live on $150 to $180,000, so they haven't saved any money. They put it on credit lines and at bonus time, they thought they'd pay it off."

The median household income in the United States is about $49,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - and that's for full, multi-person households. But Wall Street would have believe that individual executives and traders "can't live on $150,000 to $180,000 a year," and so the same taxpayers whose median household income is $49,000 a year must subsidize their bonuses.

Welcome to the kleptocracy.

[Apolgies for quoting the entire article by David Sirota. And for seizing on the term "kleptocracy." I'll give credit.]
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33 comments // Wallstreeters can't be expected to live on a mere $180,000 per year salary

  • justright
  • nobodysfool
    • 0
      nobodysfool  

    • This is hilarious, sad but hilarious. Sad because it makes me sick how greedy these people are, and hilarious because my family and I used to survive on $1500/month. We lived.

    • 3 years ago
  • 2muchinfo
    • 0
      2muchinfo  

    • $150k to $180k is not enough to live off for these Wallstreet executives. LOL! Those3 motherfuckers make a lot of money that apparently is never saved. Maybe they should start thinking about toning down the way they are living.

    • 3 years ago
  • damnneargenius
    • 0
      damnneargenius  

    • This is obviously the symptom of a privatized, corrupt money system.

      America is addicted to credit, and those pulling the strings are acting like evil, selfish drug lords to steal all they can get using, of all things, fear mongering.

      Ruh-roh. There is going to be a pretty serious backlash judging by the tone of the people, but where the lines get drawn seems to be he only remaining question.

      While I'm ranting, does America's policy on terrorist attacks not remind you of the mob offering protection from itself like back in the day before instantaneous worldwide communication technology existed?

      Hmmm...

    • 3 years ago
  • Alex_French
  • charfman
  • drewsuf721
    • 0
      drewsuf721  
    • Image

    • Nationalize the bastards, make them pay union dues, and cap the pay scales. If they want to go to China, let em. Bad bankers and traders shouldn't be rewarded with bailouts.

      Cut out the damn middle man, we all see that capitalism has been brought down already by these greedy fools.

      "Lemon Socialism"

    • 3 years ago
  • librelover
    • 0
      librelover  
    • drewsuf721:

      Umm... socialism? Really? Please explain the implementation of that, and tell me how its working out for the unionized auto-makers in the United States. Transparency in capitalism produces the most attractive system possible. At present, there is no socialist system that can meet the needs of the people in any better fashion than capitalism. There are socialist characteristics that have potential to improve the capitalistic systems we have, but socialism at the base of the system will only serve to disorient the flow of commerce further and increase the proclivity of those with access to distribution to further corrupt the system.

    • 3 years ago
  • jomahu
  • UrbanGypsy
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  

    • Re institute debtors prison for corporate parasites. Work gangs of wall streeters could clean their former office windows----20+ stories up.

    • 3 years ago
  • librelover
    • 0
      librelover  

    • That may not be a lot of money, but if the market would suggest that they are over-burdening the system with the economic tendencies of "NYC", then when they start losing their jobs because it is no longer a feasible situation they should have to adapt for themselves. Artificially manipulating the system just causes further disorientation and more severe damage to the system as a whole. Perhaps the cost of living there has made it an unfeasible place of business. That may seem like blasphemy, but reality doesn't give a sh*t. If Asia can afford to pay those guys to do what they have done to us, and further, they choose to pay them to do that... They must have a deep-seeded sado-masochistic nature. Guess what, if their standard of living is above their standard income... that is their own fault and they need to adjust appropriately. No sympathy from me. Also, if they are getting publicly subsidized then what they are getting paid by those public subsidies damn well should be made public.

    • 3 years ago
  • daboz
    • 0
      daboz  

    • I don't care what your salery is, if it is cut then things get tough. Your standard of living is what you make it, would you be able to live on less salery??

      Do you know what the cost of living is in NY.

      It is none of your DAMNED business what someone else earns, unless you are a Communist wanting to take it away and give it to someone who would rather not work.

      NY Stae is going to lose 1 billion in tax revenueas because of Obamas communist pay caps. NYC will lose 255 million in taxes on those bonuses.

      How many people are going to lose their jobs because these bonuses will not buy anything now. Therefore they will not be producing them

    • 3 years ago
  • Stradius
    • 0
      Stradius  
    • daboz:

      PEOPLE are the foundation of this country not Banks and Industry. It seems to me that the Republican take on bail outs is a lot more communist than the Democrats.

      Every time we bail out an industry that's failed due to bad leadership and greed... don't you think? I say let the Auto Industry fall, let the Banks Fall, protect the foundation of the country not the idiots who are destroying it. Let the rodents that ran the industry into the dirt die there. That's Capitalism at its finest and isn't that what the industries and the Republicans are touting as the correct model to follow... as they sign over 700 billion bucks to protect those rodents' bonuses......

      If they want bailouts for their failings they should have to pay for insurance just like the rest of us.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • rickm8
    • 0
      rickm8  

    • well its true, they cant....

      ugh, the hate for people making money...doesn't everyone hate people who make alot of money? seriously who do they think they are lol

    • 3 years ago
  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  

    • "Wallstreeters can't be expected to live on a mere $180,000 per year salary "

      An interesting sales pitch.

      Stradius ads,

      "Send the bankers away to Asia where the money is. Let them bankrupt those countries instead."

      Hmmm. There are no such guys anywhere in Asia half as slick as the guys who just took flight from a bankrupt West? Sure builds confidence to see so many rodents going over the side, doesn't it?.

      But once resident in Asia I expect our lads would understand quickly that they must be far more careful with other people's money. Subsidized failure is not an option.

      Why?

      Asian states have this terrible reputation of using excessive force to set examples. Dealing with criminals who jeopardize the state they are not at all considerate.

      Not only do their governments prosecute and toss the guilty into gulag-like eternal confinement, but often they execute people who merely hindered economic equilibrium by acts of fraud. Witness China's long list of deceased officials, managers and bosses.

      But here, to grandiose excess, we're permissive. With the slightest hint of corporate whining we obsessively throw money at countless executive failures and seek to comfort them with a soothing, "Are those bad old laws and heartless stipulations bothering you? We'll we'll just make them go away, right now."

      We have established new economic standards. Failure is proof of success, Catastrophic failure is proof of genius. Complete disregard for the country signifies - we need these guys desperately.

      No reason to doubt it anymore - our national priorities are totally screwed.

    • 3 years ago
  • Highr0ller
    • 0
      Highr0ller [removed]  
    • Image

    • The Number One Issue: Who Now Runs The Economy and Finance

      Obama’s new U.S. Treasury Secretary is Tim Geithner, a former chief deputy of his Democrat predecessors at Treasury - Robert Rubin (who presided in the first Clinton government and later Citigroup over the “new financial instruments” that have subsequently wrecked the U.S. and world economy), and Larry Summers (who as Secretary of the Treasury in 1999 tore down barriers between commercial and investment banks in the deregulation frenzy that set up the Wall Street crash). Geithner originally came from Kissinger and Associates - “a bipartisan man” - before moving on from deputy at Treasury to head of the New York Federal Bank Reserve. His main qualifying distinction - not mentioned in press releases - has been as chair of a central committee of the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), a body of chief-executive international bankers which has been the unseen point-man of neoliberalism over the last 25 years. The BIS first cut its teeth on collecting debt reparations from Germany which seeded the Nazi Party - for which the BIS later also stored stolen gold. In between these assignments, Geithner served the then-collapsing IMF as director of Policy Development and Review.

      In short, Geithner is an international money-man following in the tracks of what has preceded him. Behind all the hoopla of “Change We Need” and “The People’s President” lies the same monetocracy. Geithner assisted in the massive bank giveaway and its sequel of another further 25 billion plus 300-billion credit to Citigroup, a Rockefeller bank led by Rubin. Neither he nor Summers, the new economic czar, lent anything but support when the flood of public money into the Wall Street hole more than doubled before Christmas from the original $700 billion to $1.5 trillion with no more conditions than before.

      The biggest heist ever from the public treasury, some might say an extortionate swindle, has been backed by the threat of “give it over, or Americans won’t get credit”. No-one appears to notice the fraudulent pretext on which it is based. Who needs credit from the private banks when the public and government already back them for any credit they have got? Why pour public money into private-bank hands to lend money they do not have and are not lending when they get it?

      More Dangerous to Our Liberties than Standing Armies

      Former Federal Reserve chief, Allen Greenspan, observes that “sovereign credit and guarantees put in place during the crisis [i.e., new government money to private banks] is now estimated at 7 trillion”. Yet after 1.5 trillion U.S. public dollars thrown at the Wall Street hole, not one homeowner has been relieved of bankruptcy proceedings, the banks do not lend to productive enterprises or even themselves, and no-one tells anyone in America what’s been done with all the public money.

      The idea of a central public bank system controlling the currency and credit .........................

    • 3 years ago
  • Highr0ller
    • 0
      Highr0ller [removed]  
    • Image

    • When the U.S. Treasury gave away $700 billion to Wall Street banks with no strings attached in October of 2008, the Obama team gave a green light. A popular insurgence was soon silenced, with public wrath directed instead at the U.S. auto producers (and unions) who followed with a request for $25 billion. The auto companies ended up with a loan of about 1/50th the amount that went to Wall Street as a gift. The subtext message was disturbing. Wall Street firms produce nothing, no-one is required to explain what they are doing with all the public money they received, and no criteria of public benefit are applied.

      With the Obama team onside, rule by the fast-money men is set to continue. The near-trillion quick hand-out of citizen debt to the bankers with no conditions has remained a non-issue. Even the shift from buying Wall Street assets to direct capital infusion has raised no questions. Obama’s subsequent appointments of his economic and financial directors follow in line. Those now in charge of the U.S. money-printing machine (alias the world’s reserve currency) and of the financially hollowed-out system that was once the U.S. economy have not really changed. Even the education cabinet post has been filled by what his Bush predecessor says is “a kindred spirit”. He (Arne Duncan) has enthusiastically implemented the Bush school program in Chicago - testing children instead of teaching them, firing lots of teachers, pressuring test-failures out of school, and degrading public education with corporate-quiz mechanisms in place of sound learning methods. .............................click on link

    • 3 years ago
  • arcticspirit
  • pjacobs51
  • Stradius
  • squeege
  • Kepano
    • 0
      Kepano  

    • Too fucking bad for them, why should the poor and middle class families pay for their bonuses, and private jets? That makes no sense, it is not the common people who made poor decisions, it was these people who the whole world trusted them with their investments and money, and in turn the common people get this? If they can’t live on that too bad find new management and employees, I am sure there are lots of qualified unemployed Americans that would love to have a salary like that right now. Sell all your Million Dollar Homes and Yachts and Jets if you need more money. Don’t take it from what’s left of America’s Working People.

    • 3 years ago
  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  

    • Katmai512 writes,

      "US banks are trying their best not to lose these guys to another competitor that might come back and bite them."

      You mean there's some part of the country that hasn't already been gouged or screwed by the same tribe?

      With friends like these we're now third world. And to help themselves some more they're leaving?

      Good riddance to all those Bush loyalists. Leave your US passport at the airport. You really don't belong here at all.

    • 3 years ago
  • msltj20
  • Katmai512
    • 0
      Katmai512  
    • AveryMoore:

      @ Avery

      The interest of businesses is their survival and nothing more; the politics in running their show is centered around that. If they can screw someone and make a profit with little or no risk, they're happy. Profit, of course, isn't just made in the market place...

      I do, however, agree with you that the greed and excesses are dizzyingly nauseating. But with Capitalism designed to be greased on greed and ran by politics, I can't really see any remedies to this.

    • 3 years ago
  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  
    • AveryMoore:

      Katmai512,

      Before signing on today I'd been wondering how we became so radical in the last 60 years. Why are people no longer embarrassed when expressing grossly selfish ideas?

      I jotted down some preliminary notes and was going to polish them later. What the hell - you've anticipated much of it, the polishing can wait. Here goes.

      There is almost nothing a neo-con, neo-liberal or libertarian doesn't want added to his wealth - except for the encumbrance of a fully functioning conscience.

      Of late there's been a value-vacuum in political theory and practice. Gone is the connection with our best past ideals. With contempt for all that preceded today, ideological groups have abolished their links to the history of human thought about what it is to be - humane.

      Instead these groups obsess about maximizing personal advantage in all "transactions."

      Moving forward in time we regress in Ethics. Small wonder. Life itself has been redefined, reduced to a series of patented events which permit further human manipulation with the thumb firmly on the scales. From economics and 101 level psychology doctrines are derived to explain, accommodate and accelerate a reversion to a "mature" barbarity.

      Social Contract? Reciprocal obligations between the citizen and the state? A state dutifully ready to serve public welfare and enhance mutual goodwill? The idea that National Security begins with a deliberate and fair balancing between all population sectors? The preservation and enforcement of Laws which the state, all corporations and citizens must observe with equal fidelity?

      Absolutely, NYET. The end game of all this modern rubbish is clear.

      Government is meant to be abolished. Corporations are meant to be dominant and law-immune, the citizen is meant to steal what he can get from his neighbor to stay alive and remain justifiably paranoid. In the long run it is a fool's bargain with no other option offered..

      The citizen must agree to accept a fiction of future benefits while surrendering all acquired or future benefits, real or implied. These same advantages (both personal and social) are possible only under a secured social contract grounded on reciprocal trust and good faith.

      Forget all that.

      Here's the deal. Someday you won't have to pay ANY taxes! WOW! Gimme some of that!

      But what do you lose for it? Well, now and forever, even the possibility of things like affordable health care is toast. Your kids education? Too bad. Think of the taxes you won't have to pay!

      Oh, and while we're at it, your jobs go offshore. And as in any third world dump, your kids have zip to look forward to. Yessir! Step Right Up! That's value free progress fer sure!

      No one expects the New Extremists to see it, but all the way to economic oblivion it's pure bait and switch.

      You give up what is real for promises of future promises.

      How do we know these ideology guys are right? Because well-pedigreed economists and political hacks claim to have uncovered the secrets of eternal riches, "A Fountain of Wealth." All they had to do was stare into the crystal ball of economic what-if spreadsheet chicken entrails..

      What's not to trust about that!

    • 3 years ago
  • Katmai512
    • 0
      Katmai512  
    • Image

    • Read an article before about US bankers leaving for Asia, please see link. In my opinion, I think the US banks are trying their best not to lose these guys to another competitor that might come back and bite them.

    • 3 years ago
  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  

    • Then fire them.

      Find people who are willing to earn what they are really worth.

      I don't understand the Bush Strategy to prop up failed management and let the companies we need die while these parasitic clowns assign themselves bonuses.

      Wall Street is a monarchy? Toss em out. Let's see how well they adjust to THAT.

    • 3 years ago
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