Re: Had enough yet?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Charles Brown <cbrown () flyingcircuit com>
Date: April 3, 2009 6:06:33 PM EDT
To: phil.pennock () spodhuis org, David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: Charles Brown <cbrown () flyingcircuit com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Had enough yet?

The aggregate amount of bonuses paid on Wall Street for the past year  
was much, much greater.  Folks still don't quite seem to grasp how  
things work in the corrupt nexus.

Here's another brief example.  Bear-Stearns managed to have its  
"accrued bonuses" and other "insider obligations" paid in a bankruptcy  
proceeding, even though they were "preference items", which means they  
could have been easily reversed or dispensed with by the bankruptcy  
court.   But JP Morgan (new owner), Hank (Paulson) and Tim (Geithner)  
decided that you should pay those bonuses too, and that was back in  
March of 2008.  Congress is just finding this all out?  That's a bit  
of a very long stretch, don't you think?

Notwithstanding the fact that the bonuses are criminal, it's like  
focusing on the guy selling marijuana on the street corner while tons  
of opium are being unloaded at the dock behind him, just off-camera,  
stage-left.

The CDS market keeps rolling, rolling, and the MSM seems to have  
stumbled across this phenomenon as "insurance."   Meanwhile, Wally is  
about to double-dip on the downside through the Geithner/Summers/Wally  
toxic asset plan and the accountants are strong-armed to reverse  
policy.  You are going to pick the tab for that one too.

Charlie


Begin forwarded message:

From: Phil Pennock <phil.pennock () spodhuis org>
Date: April 2, 2009 9:34:59 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Had enough yet?

On 2009-04-02 at 20:58 -0400, David Farber forwarded:
> The Merrill bonuses were 22 times larger than those paid by AIG
> ($3,620 million versus $165 million).

The CIA World Factbook entry for the USA:
  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

lists a US population of:
  307,212,123 (July 2009 est.)
and there's an older copy which lists:
  303,824,646 (July 2008 est.)

So between $11.78 and $11.91 for every US resident has just been paid by
in bonuses to one company, from money collected as taxes?

Again from the 2009 WFB:
  Labor force:
155.2 million (includes unemployed) (2008 est.)
  Unemployment rate:
7.2% (December 2008 est.)

So the employed labor force can be estimated at 144 million; the 2007
figures from the 2008 WFB are 153.1m force, 4.6% unemployed, for an
employed labor force of 146 million.

So $24.78 per employed person, 2007, or $25.13 using the shrunk labor
force.

Call it roughly $25 per earning tax-payer. Of tax money.


The AIG figures didn't upset me too much. It was mildly irritating, but
corruption is so commonplace that less than 0.1% of the money they got
going to bonuses ... it wasn't worth getting excited over, given all the
other pork barrel excesses we see.

But this ... this irritates me.

-Phil





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