U.S. slashes exec pay at bailout firms

Kinda breaks your heart, eh, 10022?

Oh, the pain. I'm all for folks eating what they kill, but taking the government's money and betting on black with it and calling that "earning" is just laughable to me.

Here is the yahoo coverage:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091021/bs_nm/us_financial_regulation_payczar_1

The total compensation for the top 25 earners at the seven firms will be reduced by an average of about 50 percent, the source said, speaking anonymously because the decisions have not yet been made public.

THis is only executive pay. So all the traders will still get their multi million dollar bonuses.

I'm all for folks eating what they kill, but taking the government's money and betting on black with it and calling that "earning" is just laughable to me.

it's astounding what has happened

and im a trader...but i pay dearly for the capital and balance sheet i use, as i well should

> THis is only executive pay. So all the traders will still get their multi million dollar bonuses.

Many of the high-paid traders are the execs. And, often the highest ranking folks are not the ones with the biggest pay.

In the end, the point is... the 25 x 7 biggest paychecks just got smaller. Given the concentration at the top, its not small potatoes.

> and im a trader...but i pay dearly for the capital and balance sheet i use, as i well should

And thats the way it should be.

If goldman plays with house money, house gets a cut.

In the old goldman spot, the partners had to worry about losing the assets they had in the first. As a public company, thats no longer the case. And they seem to like screwing actual shareholders (by giving them smaller and smaller shares of the pie).

But if the government is the one paying to allow you to make bets, the house needs to win.

the gvmt got a better return on their "bailout" money to goldman and jpm than any other investment they could have made for the taxpayer. and i am sure anybody who has held goldman shares since the IPO is still smiling these days.....

but...of course, Warren Buffet did a hell of a lot better than we did.

many of my buddies work at these firms but I am going to say it anyway. They should be paid nothing this year. All of them at every firm from Goldman to Citi. Goldman would not be around if the we the tax payer had not bailed them out. Not to mention all the money GS has gotten to build there new HQ. I think its time to fry Goldman

None of the wall street firms admit they are makin easy money due to zero fed funds. And are any of them simply bidding up collateral to avoid writing down legacy assets already on the books?