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Toon: Two Billionaires... (Original Post)
Playinghardball
Aug 2015
OP
spanone
(135,836 posts)1. a sad K&R...
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)2. K/R for nothin' but the truth.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)3. I like how their employees can get paid to serve in government.
Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government and It Doesn't Want Anyone to Know
by David Dayen
The New Republic, Feb. 4, 2015
EXCERPT...
The handouts recently received attention when Antonio Weiss, the former investment banker at Lazard now serving as counselor to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, acknowledged in financial disclosures that he would be paid $21 million in unvested income and deferred compensation upon exiting the company for a job in government. Weiss withdrew from consideration to become the undersecretary for domestic finance under pressure from financial reformers, but the counselor positionwhich does not require congressional confirmationprobably still entitles him to the $21 million. The terms of the award are part of a Lazard employee agreement that nobody has seen.
These payments are routine at major banks, several of which have explicit policies, found in filings with the SEC, outlining automatic awards for executives who rotate into government. Goldman Sachs offers a lump sum cash payment for government service, for example.
Other banks policies are subtler. Banks often defer certain types of compensation in order to retain talent. When an executive terminates employment, unvested stock options and other forms of deferred compensation are usually forfeited. But several companies let executives equity options continue to vest if they leave for a government position, or allow them to keep retention bonuses that would otherwise be returned to the firm. A 2004 tax law banned accelerated payments but made an exemption for employees who leave for government service. Critics wonder whether the gifts are intended to fill the government with friendly faces who will act in their former employers interests.
It fuels the revolving door between banks and the government, said Michael Smallberg, an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), whose 2013 report detailed these types of compensation agreements. The average executive branch salary is substantially less than these millions in awards, so the bonuses effectively supplement the lower pay, raising questions about who the government officials actually work for.
SNIP...
Last November, Trumka wrote letters to seven mega-banksCiti, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Lazardasking their compensation committees to explain why giving incentives to executives for government service benefits shareholders or the company. The labor federation holds shares in many public companies through its pension funds. We oppose compensation plans that provide windfalls to their executives unrelated to performance, the letter states.
CONTINUED...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120967/wall-street-pays-bankers-work-government-and-wants-it-secret
by David Dayen
The New Republic, Feb. 4, 2015
EXCERPT...
The handouts recently received attention when Antonio Weiss, the former investment banker at Lazard now serving as counselor to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, acknowledged in financial disclosures that he would be paid $21 million in unvested income and deferred compensation upon exiting the company for a job in government. Weiss withdrew from consideration to become the undersecretary for domestic finance under pressure from financial reformers, but the counselor positionwhich does not require congressional confirmationprobably still entitles him to the $21 million. The terms of the award are part of a Lazard employee agreement that nobody has seen.
These payments are routine at major banks, several of which have explicit policies, found in filings with the SEC, outlining automatic awards for executives who rotate into government. Goldman Sachs offers a lump sum cash payment for government service, for example.
Other banks policies are subtler. Banks often defer certain types of compensation in order to retain talent. When an executive terminates employment, unvested stock options and other forms of deferred compensation are usually forfeited. But several companies let executives equity options continue to vest if they leave for a government position, or allow them to keep retention bonuses that would otherwise be returned to the firm. A 2004 tax law banned accelerated payments but made an exemption for employees who leave for government service. Critics wonder whether the gifts are intended to fill the government with friendly faces who will act in their former employers interests.
It fuels the revolving door between banks and the government, said Michael Smallberg, an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), whose 2013 report detailed these types of compensation agreements. The average executive branch salary is substantially less than these millions in awards, so the bonuses effectively supplement the lower pay, raising questions about who the government officials actually work for.
SNIP...
Last November, Trumka wrote letters to seven mega-banksCiti, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Lazardasking their compensation committees to explain why giving incentives to executives for government service benefits shareholders or the company. The labor federation holds shares in many public companies through its pension funds. We oppose compensation plans that provide windfalls to their executives unrelated to performance, the letter states.
CONTINUED...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120967/wall-street-pays-bankers-work-government-and-wants-it-secret
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)5. Well, they don't sell themselves cheap, and at that cost..
one can only imagine the windfall for the financial institution. Greedy bastards, and we're at their mercy.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)6. When only the wealthy have political power, it's not a democracy.
Please check out who's making a uh mint at UBS since leaving government, mountain grammy -- the guy who led the deregulation of the banks in the Senate and the guy who signed that law repealing Glass-Steagal as president -- plus a pretzeldent and assorted minions who now work hard on Wealth Management:
http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)7. Wow, wow and just wow!
Un fucking believable! But, they sure got a lot of wealth to manage. Pretty much all of it in the US of A. This is the real power running our government. Some we know, most we don't.
Thanks for the link.
Gothmog
(145,256 posts)4. Great cartoon
burrowowl
(17,641 posts)8. K&R!!!!!!