The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged bonuses

Did Wall Street Learn Anything From Public Outcries Over Bonuses?

By | 02.23.10 | 11:30 am

The headlines trumpet the increase in Wall Street bonuses in 2009 — they were up 17 percent over 2008, a number that the New York State comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, calls a “bitter pill” for American taxpayers (if not for New York’s increasingly stretched coffers). Did bankers learn nothing? More…

Swiss-Based UBS Sinks Its Claws Into Bankers’ Bonuses

By | 02.10.10 | 11:51 am

The Swiss bank UBS — last seen by The New York Times supposedly donating to Republicans to avoid regulation — is doing something more in line with President Obama’s calls to limit executive bonuses when companies fare poorly. UBS, which posted a $2.56 billion loss in 2009, is More…

Why Obama Doesn’t Begrudge Bankers Their Bonuses This Year

By | 02.10.10 | 11:07 am

In an interview with Business Week, Obama said that he didn’t “begrudge” J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon or Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein their bonuses for 2009, which amounted to $17 million and $9 million in stocks. While this has spurred outrage and unfavorable comparisons to More…

Obama Tries Some Straight Talk to Wall Street — and Channels Jennifer Aniston

By | 09.14.09 | 2:54 pm

President Obama called on Wall Street today to stop fighting financial regulation and to instead embrace reform, Bloomberg reported. Speaking at Federal Hall in New York City on the first anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers, Obama used plain language to explain to all the financial wizards More…

AIG Confesses to Bonuses Four Times Higher Than Reported

By | 05.06.09 | 9:06 am

Just how much did top AIG executives pocket last year in bonuses? Politico reports the total awards paid out were four times higher than previously reported, based on new responses from AIG to queries by Rep. Elijah Commings (D-Md.).

AIG now says it paid out more than $454 million

More…

Dems Threaten to Subpoena Geithner, Bernanke Over BofA-Merrill Lynch Deal

By | 04.24.09 | 10:58 am

Just a few weeks after Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) requested information from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about White House plans to sidestep executive pay limits for bailed out firms (information that still hasn’t been provided), Towns is asking Geithner about his role in Bank of America’s reportedly shady More…

McCain on AIG: Let It Fail

By | 03.26.09 | 12:16 pm

Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he opposed the 90 percent tax on AIG bonuses that passed the House. “I don’t support bills of attainder,” he said, to loud applause. He said he opposed the idea of controlling the salaries and bonuses of TARP-taking executives, focusing More…

Don’t Cry for Wall Street: Hedge Fund Managers Raked in Big Payoffs

By | 03.25.09 | 9:20 am

Reading the resignation letter from the former AIG executive who had nothing to do with credit default swaps but has been vilified regardless, you see the other side of the story, a way to feel some sympathy for top financial executives caught in the same crisis that’s More…

From an AIG Executive, the Other Side of the Story

By | 03.25.09 | 9:11 am

This resignation letter in The New York Times today from an AIG executive in the financial products unit explaining the bonus controversy from his point of view probably will be flying around the blogosphere today. In the letter to AIG CEO Edward Liddy, the executive, Jake DeSantis, says  it’s not More…

Congress’ 90 Percent Bonus Tax Is Probably Legal

By | 03.21.09 | 4:02 pm

For those who’ve been wondering whether Congress can really just vent its anger at those $165 million in AIG bonuses by levying a 90 percent tax on the bonuses of all executives who receive bailout money, the answer is: probably, yes.