Kristof, NYT - The CEO of Lehman "earned" 45 MILLION dollars last year

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

(I posted this in another thread but then thought the Kristof column deserved its own space)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/opinion/18kristof.htm...

Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required.

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: September 17, 2008
Are you capable of taking a perfectly good 158-year-old company and turning it into dust? If so, then you may not be earning up to your full potential.

You should be raking it in like Richard Fuld, the longtime chief of Lehman Brothers. He took home nearly half-a-billion dollars in total compensation between 1993 and 2007.

Last year, Mr. Fuld earned about $45 million, according to the calculations of Equilar, an executive pay research company. That amounts to roughly $17,000 an hour to obliterate a firm. If you’re willing to drive a company into the ground for less, apply by calling Lehman Brothers at [phone].

Good article about CEO excess. Now the question I raise is this. Isn't taking 45 million out of a company that is about to go under akin to equity stripping? As late as last year, they didn't know the trouble they were in?

I'd love to see some commentary from our financial gurus about this.

I have been railing about CEO excess for a long long time (it's my major obsession aside from healthcare and election fraud and torture and Plame and . . .oh nevermind) and I am thrilled that it is finally starting to get some real traction and the public outrage that it deserves. Too bad it took a meltdown to get there.

[babylonsister]

1. Disgusting. He should put all of that money towards the deficit.

If all the CEOs did that, average Americans wouldn't be taking such a hit.

[otohara]

2. Bullshit Bullshit Bullshit

no one deserves that kind of dough

[ben_meyers]

3. Of course McSame will try to make a big deal out of

Fuld being a big Democratic contributor. Finger pointing is all we can expect.

[Winterblues]

4. I am sure Republicans will find a way for tax payers to pay for it.

It seems about every decade or so Republicans find a way to use tax payers money to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars to give (bail out) to their wealthy campaign contributors, think Keating five and Savings and Loan Bail Out, and now Fannie May and Freddie Mac and AIG etc. These CEOs will get away with millions and contribute a portion right back into Republican coffers. Americans really are quite stupid aren't we.:shrug:

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Is there not some kind of clever, under-used (or never used) remedy....

to seize the assets of CEOs of failed companies who received ungodly payouts?

No doubt, much of this could be solved if it weren't for the billions paid out to CEOs over how many years now, while American jobs were simultaneously being shipped overseas.

SURELY there is some law violated in these acts.

At the very, very least, someone with a brain and integrity in the MSM needs to do a special (hey, maybe Jon Stewart) showing all this information which can be become viral video so people can see how BLATANT and INEXCUSABLY GREEDY AND UNPATRIOTIC these people have been.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[LaurenG]

7. Well remember Enron - if it looks like they may be held accountable

they'll all start "dying" of heart attacks. :(

[OneGrassRoot]

9. Maybe create a "criminal gains" tax......damn, it's just infuriating...

and we all saw it coming. Well, most of us, even if we don't understand the details of it economically, we saw them raping us.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. 4 whole years ago John Kerry was very clear about Benedict Arnold CEO's

And all the same stuff was going on then. What was JUST beginning, however was the real estate bubble which was the coup de grace.

[guitar man]

6. CEOs should earn minimum wage

That's what their salary should be. On top of that, they should be able to make large comissions and bonuses IF the company performs. Company makes a lot of money, CEO makes a lot of money. Company loses money, CEO makes minimum wage. Lets make these "you get what you deserve, risk and reward" spewing types puth their money where their mouth is for a change.

[Karenina]

10. LOVE it!

[ehrnst]

8. Can he at least be fined? (nt)

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. It is impossible to work hard enough to earn $17,000/hr,

Though I would support paying that to firefighters for the hours they spend inside burning structures. (Once safely back outside, I'd drop that back to their normal $20/hr.)

[jfkraus]

12. He should be sued

A class action law suit by the shareholders for failing his fiduciary duty to protect their investments should do nicely.

[many a good man]

13. All CEO stock options should be exchanged with the shares the Fed just bought

Pennies on the dollar. Do it to their retirement pay, too!

[seafan]

14. Wonder how much Jeb Bush made....

He glommed onto Lehman last year as a "financial adviser".

LEHMAN BROTHERS was founded in 1850. The firm managed to get through the Civil War, WWI, and WWII, the Great Depression, and the attacks of September 11, 2001. Yet after hiring Jeb Bush in late August of 2007, the firm suddenly goes belly up in a year. It also should be noted that in 2006, George H. Walker IV was also hired by Lehman Brothers.


What is Jeb Bush's role in the Lehman Brothers meltdown?

Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required., NYT, September 17, 2008