CEOs at bailed out banks got $13.8 million apiece last year

[Hannah Bell]

Executives at financial firms bailed out by the government received on average $13.8 million in compensation last year, according to a study of bank earning statements released last week. This figure is 37 percent higher than the average CEO income in the S&P 500, which stood at $10.1 million last year. The study found that CEOs stand to benefit even further after their companies granted them stock options at their low points in early 2009.

The report noted that the average financial CEO’s salary in 2008 was 430 times what an average worker earned during the same time. The top five executives at the 20 financial firms that got the most money from the federal government collected a total of $3.2 billion in compensation in the past three years. During this time, these 100 people took in an average of $32 million apiece. This group received $1.2 billion in 2006 and 2007, and $0.8 billion last year. 100 US workers would have to work for a thousand years to make as much as this group made in three.

...Many Wall Street firms gave executives large quantities of stock options in the beginning of the year, when stocks were at bottom prices. But as a result of the bailout and the Obama administration’s continued guarantees that it would compensate banks for any losses they incur, these stocks have drastically shot up in value... If the rally continues, these people stand to earn far more....

The response from the media has been a mixture of feigned outrage and cynical acceptance...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/exec-s07.shtml

[fujiyama]

1. They are our Gods.

All the fruits of our labor belong to them. How dare you question the sacrifices to them. You are not a free market purist. Don't you know it's the only ideology that works?!

[sam sarrha]

2. THEY ARE STEALING FROM THE STOCK HOLDERS.. INDITE IMPRISON

[create.peace]

3. this is

wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong

[kenny blankenship]

4. Keep up the good work, boys!

Here's some walking around money. Get yourself some Santy Claus.

[bigjohn16]

5. And they produce nothing.

If the world fell apart tomorrow they'd be useless, all their money and "skills" would mean nothing. They take peoples fake money and make more fake money so the economy will "grow" and the scam can continue. When they add another zero in the computer they might as well add fifty of them because in the real world there's nothing to back it up. You have the people who produce and consume things and then there are the leeches in the middle reaping the benefits of other peoples work. The middle men rule the world. I for one think we could still function without them, what are we "growing" when the economy goes up 4% anyways other then the profits of those in the middle who do nothing but get everything.

[notesdev]

6. All of it stolen from us. -eom

[jeanpalmer]

7. The bankers, the MIC and the

healthcare scammers are impoverishing the entire country. We're on our way to becoming a banana republic.

[onethatcares]

8. on our way?

jeeez, I think it's a bit worse than that.