America’s Billion-Dollar-a-Year Men

[marmar]

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:




America’s Billion-Dollar-a-Year Men
April 2, 2011

Hedge fund honchos bet on stocks. They bet on gold. They bet on lawsuits. Most of all, they bet that the rest of us will never wise up to the awesome giveaway our current tax code ladles on them.

By Sam Pizzigati


Only in America can someone make $85 million in a year and feel underpaid.

This past Friday, USA Today’s annual corporate CEO pay survey — the first major national report so far this year on 2010 executive pay — revealed that Viacom chief Philippe Dauman earned $84.5 million last year.

But Friday also brought new numbers on annual “top 25” hedge fund manager compensation from AR magazine, the hedge fund industry’s trade journal. The hedge fund earnings needed in 2010 to make this exalted top 25: $210 million, well over double the four-score millions that went to Viacom’s Dauman.



Last year’s top hedge fund kingpin, John Paulson, walked off with an astounding $4.9 billion in 2010 from his hedge fund labors. Paulson made more in a week than Dauman made for his entire year. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/americas-billion-dollar-a-year-men/

[dkf]

1. When they report these earnings is that simply what he gets for managing the fund

Or is it also how his own invested funds have done?

[unblock]

3. the article doesn't spell it out, but it implies it's just for managing the fund

and that's usually the topic of contention as far as the "carried interest" tax policy loophole goes. as for the income they get from investing their own money, they're in the same boat as any other investor as far as taxes go.

[dkf]

4. Yes. I would hope it is separated out as that would be a misleading number if not.

What is more of a scandal is how they tax hedged manager earnings.

In terms of the private agreements that these managers make with their investors, I am not sure the Government can regulate that area as any of those investors would be considered sophisticated and capable of making their own decisions on pay structures.

[unblock]

5. right now, yes, the attitude is that they're sophisticated enough to protect themselves

but if i were in charge i'd seriously look into whether or not a 2-3% base fee plus 20-25% haircut on profit aren't indicative either of insufficient sophistication on the part of investors (if they aren't getting a decent reward/risk ratio after the fees) or of insider information/market manipulation on the part of hedge fund managers (how IS it that they can predictably earn THAT much more for their funds despite those huge fees)?

if nothing else, i'd certainly hike taxes on outsized incomes. there's no excuse for that, and the fact that the carried interest loophole remains is clear evidence of kickbacks. er, i mean, perfectly legal, well-placed campaign contributions.

[unblock]

2. just for perspective, $4.9bn is $40,833.33 per working MINUTE

counting an 8 hour day and 250 working days per year (52 weeks x 5 days minus 10 days off).

that's a normal annual salary EVERY MINUTE.

[Moostache]

6. Fuck him.

People who take that kind of money out of the economy KNOW that what they are doing is harming millions of other people in the exchange. The fact that they could ever believe that they are worth 1/1000th of that for doing NOTHING OF REAL VALUE is stunning.

I hope for him the same that I hope for the rest of the investor class and Wall Street banksters - a lengthy and excruciatingly painful illness, followed by Alzheimer's and MS (and any other wasting disease that they refuse to fund research into cures for) and a thieving relative stealing what's left before warehousing them in a government hospice home.

May they all die deaths, unloved, unremembered and utterly alone.

[Moostache]

7. Fuck him.

People who take that kind of money out of the economy KNOW that what they are doing is harming millions of other people in the exchange. The fact that they could ever believe that they are worth 1/1000th of that for doing NOTHING OF REAL VALUE is stunning.

I hope for him the same that I hope for the rest of the investor class and Wall Street banksters - a lengthy and excruciatingly painful illness, followed by Alzheimer's and MS (and any other wasting disease that they refuse to fund research into cures for) and a thieving relative stealing what's left before warehousing them in a government hospice home.

May they all die deaths, unloved, unremembered and utterly alone.