Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Good news everybody!CNBC (where Maria Bartiromo hangs out): Bailed-Out Banks' Executives Set to Cash In Again
Top executives of bailed-out banks, who were awarded stock options as the sector bottomed out earlier this year, are set to pocket millions of dollars in profits as prices rebound, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The top five executives at 10 financial institutions that took some of the biggest taxpayer bailouts have seen a combined increase in the value of their stock options of nearly $90 million, the report by the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies said. What Arianna Huffington wrote recently: Has Obama's Handling of the Bank Bailout Undermined Health Care Reform?
... Take the bank bailouts. The dust is finally beginning to settle on that front, and what we are seeing doesn't bode well for the ongoing health care fight.
... one of the main consequences of the one-sided bailout of Wall Street is the way it has undermined public trust in government.
... Rob Johnson, economist at the Economic Policy Institute, and former Chief Economist of the Senate Banking Committee, blogging on HuffPost, nailed it:By refusing to stand up to the oligarchs and set proper boundaries in defense of society, they fed the cynics and dissipated the magic that Obama had created for real change. The administration seemed closer to Jamie (Dimon) and Goldman Sachs than to us. The lesson: if you fail to defend society once, people lose faith. The loss of faith carries a high price, and we're paying that price now in the arena of health care reform. And yet the administration is shocked -- shocked that Americans aren't rallying behind its vague health care plan. They can try to blame it on Fox News or town hall crazies, but I hope they know that much of the health care anger is a proxy for bailout anger.
Americans feel it in their gut that the White House is treating the big business health care establishment the same way it handled the big business Wall Street establishment.
posted by Quiddity at 9/02/2009 09:13:00 AM
4 comments
but haven't you heard? obama is a socialist.
a hurried reader would have gotten the impression ceos got paid with bailout cash. but this $90 million value was in stock options. should they have not been paid with stocks? if the stocks hadn't rallied during the summer, their value would have been much lower.
does rob johnson really believe there wouldn't have been opposition to healthcare reforms if obama had "cracked the whip" and..what?...nationalized the banks? that would have fueled even more furor on the right.
ariana says : And yet the administration is shocked -- shocked that Americans aren't rallying behind its vague health care plan.
on the contrary, even though obama's numbers have fallen and despite all the rightwing hysterics, there is still majority support for reforms. even with the drop, obama still wins more trust than congress or republicans. people know we cannot continue with the broken status quo. it is still a minority who oppose reforms.
nice move, blame obama for corporate astroturf.
why didn't ariana select this cut:
Geithner acknowledged that difficulty but said the administration would probably lean toward being more strict. Taken together, the combination of reforms would be a powerful counterbalance to big banks, he said.
Americans feel it in their gut that the White House is treating the big business health care establishment the same way it handled the big business Wall Street establishment.
during the bank bailouts, we were on the verge of sliding into another great depression.
let's say obama refused to do a bailout and the economy did collapsed. the same critics now knocking obama for having done the bailouts - would have torn obama apart for being so idiotic as not to rescue the banks and having condemned us to ruin. some critics have positioned themselves so that obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
ariana doesn't mention obama did put in requirements that banks cooperate with homeowners with new refinancing and work to prevent foreclosures. it's the banks who haven't held up their part of the deal. we'll see what these new wall street reforms will bring to answer that.
what also doesn't get mentioned by bailout critics is that this money will get repaid. people need to remember that. but that reminder would get in the way of stoking resentment.
ariana doesn't mention how obama is shutting down offshore tax shelters. that also gets in the way of the narrative of obama as protector of the wealthy.
ariana also doesn't mention how the senate failed to pass tougher bank regulations. how about proportioning some of this blame?
i too wondered during the bailout why not tougher regs. my own theory is that when the economy is on the precipice of collapse, that isn't the time to dump a bunch of new regulations. that would further weaken a weak economy. it costs money to be in compliance of new regs. it would be better to wait for the economy to stop tanking (or at least slow down the rate of decline) and regain some stability - then come in with new regs. which is what obama is doing now.
one more thing, people are coming out to rally for reforms. you see more of them at town halls. there were a bunch of healthcare rallies last night, but national media isn't covering them.
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