His time here is almost over but before he takes off for a little maxing and relaxing, the Compensation Cop is apparently thinking about having some fun with bonuses that were paid out that for “the bailout year of 2008″ by all banks that took TARP funds and not just the ones who’ve yet to pay back the blood money. So not just fuck-ups like Citi and Bank of America but also institutions such as, to name a few, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and, gird your loins, Goldman Sachs. Feinberg has just finished a “look back” at the cheddar paid out by those institutions and according to Charlie Gasparino, “does not like what he saw.”
Sources say that Feinberg, in concluding his study, and one person with knowledge of Feinberg’s thinking says he is “leaning” toward forcing at least some of the big banks that he reviewed to give back bonus money.
Of course, there is the slight issue of Feinberg not exactly having the “authority” to force anyone to do anything but Chaz thinks there’s a chance the banks may just give the money back anyway to “escape public scrutiny” (one might argue that public scrutiny as it relates to the banks giving a golden sack about it is so last year but same diff, diff). Also, when it comes down to it, it’s not actually up to Feinberg at all but rather Tim Geithner who has the final say, which means there’s gonna be only one way to settle this, and it involves Blankfein working on his jump shot.
Feinberg is a total !#^&*% idiot. Why not make the incompetent poiticians give back their salaries for helping find our way into this mess – FNM – FRE – Congress – lax regulation – public policy for giving irresponsible borrowers mortgages – Greenspan
This picture makes me break out into the Rocky Theme Song
Czars Gone Wild.
sure Kenny, go to Greenwich and remove cars from driveways, clothes from closets, gardeners from gardens, braces from children’s mouths, and implants from soccer moms.
This guy is out of control. He is just like Obama, trying the same case over and over. We have all moved on at this point.
Hey Obama stay on topic, make JOBS your friend!
“[Hey Obama] stay on topic[, make JOBS your friend]!”
after you, sugar tits.
@ 5 Bess, how is this off topic? “sure Kenny, go to Greenwich and remove cars from driveways, clothes from closets, gardeners from gardens, braces from children’s mouths, and implants from soccer moms.”
A law enforcement source says Mel Gibson then noticed another female sergeant and yelled, “What do you think you’re looking at, sugar tits?”
Too late, I spent it all on my CFA-1 vanity plate.
Rainmaker
Dallas, TX
Bess, everytime you say sugar tits, I get that tingly feeling, you know, right down there in my plums region.
@6 I’m re-reading my comment and trying to see where I highlighted that part.
@ 10 so no part of a comment can address anything other than the topic discussed? well, technically obama is kenny’s boss, so even that comment is on topic, disagree?
it’s on.
-LB
Why does this have to do with T-Geits playing basketball with the orientals?
–Because the pictures catch my eye before the articles
@12:
What about Lloyd Blankfein rescuing the stray kittens? Have you rescued any stray kittens?
Hey, @12 was removed and replaced with a new @12. Damn, such power! Feinberg-like power.
@11/6 you’re not married are you? There are times when you just walk away.
–Married Guy
Hurrah! About time. Feinberg should take back every single dollar in “bonus” money taken by every bank that received TARP funding. Not just the big guys with their $10MM pay packages, but the middle guys who got seven figures and the kids walking out with six figures of taxpayer money. They should take it all back right now from every bonus “baby.” Teach ‘em all lesson. Will do more in 10 minutes than 10 years of FINREG.
I have trouble thinking when Bess writes sugar tits.
@6 thanks for taking up my cause, no worries, Bess is in her right if she wants to comment, though I see no harm in her post.
sometimes because i care about my country and despise the tone the executive office has set in America I get incensed when i see ordinary people being harmed for lack of employment because govt. is not creating an environment where busines is confident regarding regulation, taxes, and increased costs to business. this is affecting theeconomic recovery of our nation, plain and simple. businesses and capital create jobs, which create income for workers.
it is sad that most politicians and regulators, and appointees are barely qualified to hold their office, and our future is clearly in their hands.
Bess is positively sassy!
@17: You were the original @12, right? So, I ask again, what about the stray fucking kittens???? You hate cats too, right?
Pfluger, I don’t know anything about your cat references. The only cats I hate are fatcats and their greedy minions who needed the rest of us honest businesspeople to bail them out with tax dollars. We bailed them out after they torpedoed the value of our homes with their shorts and CDOs. Then they took off with massive bonuses, while we were left poorer. To think some 24 year old kid without any real world experience was taking home tens of thousands or more in bonus money to spend on Champaigne, cigars, booze and women. Meanwhile, hard working Americans could barely make a mortage payment, let alone reap the fruits of their hard work and get their kitchen remodeled, finish their basement or put in a pool. It’s a busted-knuckle system and I hope Mr. Feinburg puts it right.
Ryllan Dattigan rearry hates cats, too.’
Merissa Ree
How on earth did someone writing CDOs cause you to default on your loans? Do you also condemn highly paid athletes for your default?
As far as the cats,,I think that before you condemn LB and other Wall Streeters to death (assuming you are the original @12), you really should get up to speed on Blankfein’s rescue of stray kittens.
I am not @12 and would never condemn a fellow to death. I just think he (and everyone who works at a Tarp bank) ought to have to skip a Hamptons. Maybe they could get to work this summer, would that be so bad? The numbers these guys get are staggering, even right out of college. And you know exactly how the CDO hurt the housing.
@22 remember very few individuals caused the problems we experienced. Should we now take back the head of ITs bonus, or the banker in equities who gave up weekends and nights with his family, or the mailroom clerk or secretary?
now we have someone saying you made too much. people are paid for productivity, it may not make sense outside wall st. if these individuals were useless they would be fired. who does feinberg report to, what panel decides these actions. be careful when the govt. tells you how much you can make. yeah, this whole bonus thing stinksa bit, but do we penalize the massses for the actions of a few? imperfect at best.
@22 goddamit, its champagne, and Champaign is a town in Illinois
Signed,
Why I’m 24 yrs old and making more money than you
@25 not paying mortgages hurt housing, CDO’s helped provide the cash at an attracive rate (based on risk / credit worthiness factors). You are probably right – without CDO’s we would have never been able to securitize real estate to release more low cost capitl for borrowers who should have never had a mortgage to begin with.
is the guy guarding him from the highway litter crew? love the neon green vest.
@25: No I do not know how CDOs hurt the housing market. Why don’t you explain it, right here. Because in the world of personal responsibility, if you take a loan, its expected that you will be able to repay it. Not blame Goldman and AIG for CDO contracts, and condemn people who work on Wall Street.
I could just as easily blame stupid, ignornant, greedy homeowners for taking unaffordable mortgages. YOU CAUSED AIG TO COLLAPSE, you SOB.
AIG should sue you.
@30, easy on the indignation. on the one hand it is okay to make macro bets which hurt the institution when the market turned away and get rewarded for it, but when you are financially ignorant and someone says they will loan you hundreds of thousands of dollars with the possibility to make money in an advancing market by selling the house later, you should have enough fortitude to turn it down? there is plenty of blame to go around. govt -> businsess -> individual. everyone wanted to live in the land of make believe where there is no cost to any actions.
If Feinberg is successful in making individuals who earned bonuses in 2008 (paid in 2009 and spent in 2009) pay them back in 2010, we will have a whole new wave of defaults and personal bankruptcies. Not everyone on Wall St. is 24 and makes millions. Idiots!
Why do banks give a rat’s ass what the public thinks? The public has always hated bankers. Europeans hated Jews in the middle ages because they were bankers. They will always hate bankers, so it’s not worth a red cent to appease them. And guess what, the economy still can’t function without bankers, so they can all S a D.
@31: To answer your question, yes you should turn it down. Being stupid (or financially ignorant, as you put it) should hurt.
Weren’t all you twerps begging for a socialist bailout 2 years ago? Be happy you have a (highly overpaid) job. Pfluger – read the Big Short for a dumbed down version (maybe not enough for you) of how CDOs spread risk systemwide and how banks leveraged their ass up on this risk. Who’s the bigger idiot – the 7 figure wall street ‘talent’ that packages no doc liar loans into securities slaps AAA on them and then creates synthetic side bets leveraging the system to higher and higher, ot the poor blue collar bastard watching home values in his neighborhood skyrocket higher thanks to that bullshit who decides he better take advantage of this before he’s locked out? You twit.
Fuck off Levin
I want to make sure I understand this, because I’m a little slow. When government creates securitization vehicles, Fannie and Freddie, or incentives to banks to lend to non-creditworthy individuals (CRA), and makes ways for ordinary people to buy houses they couldn’t otherwise afford (deductibility of mortgage interest, homebuyer tax credits) it’s ok – hell, it’s damn noble. When Wall St. Creates private label securitization vehicles (RMBS CDO’s), and once-lauded (even by Congress!) innovative financial products that allow people to buy homes they coudnt otherwise afford (option ARMs, low down payments, low doc/no doc loans) it’s evil. Right. All of the above, to one extent or another, turned out to be not-so-good ideas, at least in exceution if not in concept. But the populist outrage is unilaterally directed. Seems a bit odd. But predictable.
Fight it. Money paid was money earned. Legally. Then move on once the populist lemmings move on to the next target of their jealousy.
I do not know what is going on here but I don’t rightly give a f*ck either.
@38 – don’t worry about it. Here’s a tax credit, go buy a Mercedes or a Mansion.
@35 – awwwwww, you want to feel avenged. Cute. Go watch Bloodsport and imagine you’re JCvD beating up on those nasty, evil, fat-cat bankers in the smoke-filled room (don’t get that one much any more). It will make you feel better, shnookums.
So as I was saying, the amount of money I’m going to be making would hurt your parents’ feelings. Remember the class where I taught you how to make it rain? That’s what I’m going to be doing. Every. Single. Night.
@37 – sorry I must have missed the part where money was “earned”. I seem to recall all you little twerps shaking in your boots 2 years ago as Wall Street was crashing down thanks to its own stupidity. There are losers in capitalism. We don’t have capitalism, and your bosses are in charge, so stop bitching when Feinberg wags his flaccid finger at you. It’s all for show dipshit.
@41 – yes, you obviously did miss that part. Bonuses are discretionary and based on profit. Structured Products groups created products based on demand, both from homebuyers and from bond buyers, who wanted to lend to homebuyers. Those products were well received by all constituencies, and sold well, generating profit. Therefore the creators and sales teams were paid bonuses based on the profits. The bonuses were thereby legally, and in some cases even contractually, earned.
Once again the assclown Gossiparino has been heard from and once again it’s total misinformation.
I’m no fan of KF and I sure as hell am no fan of this corrupt administration of liberals. But, KF has been very clear and, whether you agree with him or not, this is not a shift in thinking. It is little more than an incompetent journalist attempting to manufacture news – AS HE ALWAYS DOES.
Last week he was pimping a story about BP that was completely false. How FBN allows this kind of consistently incorrect rubbish on their air only serves to prove how desperate they must be for someone to finally watch their pathetic network.
Hey Gasbag. Simple fact – they have this new thing out: it’s called a Statement of Cash Flows. Should ever get a financial education (I question just how educated you are on anything for that matter), you would discover that BP generates $20 Billion per year in cash flow and that, while their liquidity needs enhancing, you have totally misrepresented their financial condition.
As the news broke yesterday (surely not by you!) that they will be selling some assets, your GOSSIPARINO SPECIAL last week that they were in merger talks has been proven to be completely false. No surprise here!
I’ve read that your batting average on accurately breaking news is about 15% (one in seven as I recall). Well, you’re due son. I think that you’ve missed about 20 in a row there assclown.
Finally, congratulations on a new low. I saw that “the SELLOUT” (you know, that book you wrote that can’t sell out) hit 100,000 on the Amazon list recently. You must be very proud. Perhaps you can have some more cronies post up some false rave reviews and mislead some more people into reading it.
Game…blouses
No more whining. Doesn’t matter that your desk made money and it was “someone else’s” fault your bank needed TARP. Plenty of good men have lost their jobs through no fault of their own when the company is hurting. We’re not even asking that you folks lose your job or go to jail or anything. But you sure as heck don’t get a fat bonus on our backs. That was the deal: you take TARP, the government gets to have a say on your pay. And we say, for one year at least, enough. You made a nice salary and you can live just fine on that. Get yourself a nice studio apartment or loft or a house on Long Island or New Jersey. But you may have to skip the Hampton timeshare, the spring break in Playa and your steak dinners and parties at Marquis. These are the breaks. No use whining. If you don’t like it, then go do something else. You all clearly think you are so smart – you ought to be able to take your talents from under the TARP rules and do just fine. Unless of course the reason you get so angry when the American people speak up on our right to claw back your bonus is because you know you need to live off the fat of the banks and their American TARP. Maybe you know you can’t do better. You are no entrepreneur, you’re a well-paid bureaucrat. Sorry Charlie. Fat days are gone (and maybe your golddigger girlfriend too). Thems are the breaks.
@43 I’m not exactly a Gaspo fan but lately, I’d have to disagree with you. I’ve made $$ on the stories he’s breaking on FBN from Goldman 2 BP. And I’ve made chubbies w/ Liz Claman standing there next to him. It’s a two-fer.
@45…do you even know whats going on? A lot of finance professionals DID lose their jobs, a lot of us got a slice of pizza as our 2008 bonus (theres your one year) since we get paid based on how much money we generate…sounds like “earning” to me. And given that a large number of people on this site are young bankers, they’re probably too busy working at 11pm to enjoy those steak dinners/parties at Marquis.
There was no deal made that in exchange for once accepting TARP (and repaying, unlike the union workers), the govt gets a say on pay. That was done later on to get Bubba in the trailer park liking Obama. As far as it goes though, what exactly are the “breaks” you’re speaking of? I’m still getting paid, and don’t really care if JD or LB have to repay their bonus. So maybe we are doing fine, but the repeated inept and incompetent government is creating yet more soundbites to keep the populist masses happy – in your case it clearly worked.
- Guy who’s cranky because he only got 2 hrs of sleep last night due to his “non-productive” job.
To @47. We all know that if you did actually work an all-nighter (we also know how often you guys exaggerate your hours), it is only because of the criminal inefficiency of the wall street banks. You probably spent most of the day diddling yourself or playing brickbreaker or somesuch until yoiur boss (no doubt some kid fresh out of business school) drops a model on your desk. And who are we kidding anyway – your employer is only making money because they borrow from the Fed for free and buy treasuries. Nobody has to stay up all night for that. I appreciate that you think you will be getting a bonus this year. For your sake, I hope you don’t spend it before you have it hand. Step outside and feel the political winds; there won’t be any bonus this year kiddo.
@48, you mad bro?
-Guy who doesn’t really care if you are in fact mad because he’s still so incensed that Greenwich won’t be fielding a rugby team this year.
Crying like a bitch on DB is the new killing it?
Please, for God’s sake, dont make the soccer Moms give back their implants.
@49 – I’m not mad. My commissions are safe and secure.
THEY CAME FIRST for the implants,
and I didn’t speak up because I didn’t have implants.
THEN THEY CAME for the gardeners,
and I didn’t speak up because I live in a loft.
THEN THEY CAME for team Edward,
and I didn’t speak up because I don’t work at Colony.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
@52, glad your job in retail is working out well. Working at Gap is the new killing it?
Come on – I provide a real service to my clients. I give them good advice and recommend only those investments that are suitable for their individual circumstances. None of this CDO nonsense. My clients like me and I earn a nice living from working hard for my commissions. Not like some punk wall street kid who is pushing paper to magically conjure up new “products” that offer no value to society.
I would add that your “the new killing it” mentality is the very reason we’re in this mess. Many fine men have worked in the investment banks through the years. But with the traders mentality creeping in – all wall street cares about is “killing it.” Well, guess what, America doesn’t want you to kill it anymore. Best advice is learn a trade.
@ 55 “I provide a real service to my clients.” You wouldn’t by chance have recently made a move into the real estate brokerage business, would you?