Bonused

Posts Tagged ‘Wall’

There are such things as “Executive Orders” – If Bush can pass the Patriot Act, Obama could sure as heck put a leash on Wall Street.

If American News Reporters can sit down with Iranians, Hillary could sure as heck sit down with Amadinejad and enter good dialogue.

Any ideas?

Are they now collecting bonuses and paying off TARP loans based solely on 1st and 2nd quarter gains, or are they first having to overcome all of the losses they had during the meltdown?

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New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and staff recently conducted a study of New York City financial firms and the bonuses employees received in 2009. The study shows that bonuses rose nearly 17 percent, to $20.3 billion, during a year where the securities sector earnings are forecasted to exceed an unprecedented $55 billion.

Through the first three quarters of 2009, broker-dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) member firms earned a record setting $49.9 billion. In the previous year, the industry lost another record setting figure of $42.6 billion.

Compensation at major investment banks, including those that are more diversified than traditional brokers, such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, increased 31 percent in 2009. The average compensation rose more than $340,000, up 27 percent over the previous year. Citibank and Bank of America data was not included in these figures.

The majority of the largest financial firms are not paying their top executives cash bonuses, instead compensation is provided in the form of stock options and other forms of deferred payment. Also notable, is that the industry did not devote as much net revenue to compensating employees in 2009, as they have in past years. Over the past several decades, it wasn’t uncommon for salaries and bonuses to equate to as much as half of net revenue; however, in 2009 this amount was down to around 40 percent of net revenue.

Employment declined by roughly 31,500, or just under 17 percent of, jobs in the New York City securities industry between November 2007 and August 2009. Between August and December 2009 the industry managed to add nearly 3,900 new jobs. In a previous study by the State Comptroller, it was found that for every securities industry job created, three other jobs are created elsewhere in the state of New York.

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This System Shows You How To Start Making A Killing From The Market, Regardless Of Whether The Market Is Going Up Or Down. 24 Hrs Video Shows Step By Step + Bonuses.
The Trader Pro System – Trade Like A Wall Street Professional.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Copyright (c) 2008 Drew Stevens PhD

I just completed my morning coffee and dose of Wall Street Journal when I read that AIG the world’s largest insurer, spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, the expense-spent days after a massive billion-dollar bail out. These egregious individuals used money-borrowed money for an annual sales feast.

Not only is there issue with the timing of the event, but also once again, we take issue with leaders that lacking critical thinking, empathy, and humility. While many pundits find concern with interest rates and liquidity, the true issues lie in the leadership of many banking and credit institutions. The avaricious leadership of many organizations operates in a callous vacuum with little concern for its most vital assets- employees and customers. The items binding these assets to leaders are trust and respect, which appear to feverishly diminish. The problem with many of these leaders is creating a Darwinian environment. It is difficult to question the morale and productivity issue when so many leaders are narcissists and employees abhor their leaders.

Fortunately, there is a microcosm of these leaders. Many others understand the value of the employee and the mantra of customer first. Curiously, what is it that separates quirkiness from exemplary? We believe it comes down to six basic premises.

Exemplars. It seems ages ago, but leaders once were within organization. Names such as Iacocca, Lincoln, Ford, etc, were associated with pragmatism and trust. Very few leaders allow innovation, collaboration and excel at organizational communication. Present leader must illustrate vision and value. They need to say what they mean and mean what they say. When more leadership personifies with names such as Jobs, Kelleher and Barrett, the trust factor will return.

Accountabliity. Our firm speaks of this much simply because there is not enough. Leadership simply does not hold individuals accountable. In addition, current boards of directors do not hold leaders accountable. Ethically – speaking boards and their directors continue morale corruption stemming from perennial relationships. These must terminate. Boards must develop from strangers and stakeholders that desire organizational best interests. Further, boards and executives must be accountable. Rather than pacify with bonuses, and options, underperforming leaders must amend or terminate

Action. Similar to issues of accountability, organizations must require timetables and action steps. Employees and executives bemoan work. We often hear how occupied individuals are. We constantly hear of the complaints related to massive workload. However, statistics show that workload relates to procrastination. If organizations are so busy individuals would not have time for cigarette breaks, lunch or in the case of AIG spa outings. Ethics. Where are the ethics in organization? After the debacle of Enron and World Com, Congress developed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to protect against flagrant behavior. Organizations cannot provide an ethics assessment for each leader, but clearly, organizations with issues lack leaders with integrity. When Boards of Directors place more checks and balances on the leadership, perhaps there is a return to normalcy.

Communication. Where is the feedback in organizations? Leaders must provide consistent and constant communication. A study by the Corporate Leadership Council in 2003 reveals leaders have a tremendous impact on an employee’s level of commitment, of which 70% is relationship. If communication is the core of any relationship, leaders cannot overlook the most vital tool. If leaders are too absorbed begin leaders, perhaps it is time for a change.

Trust and Respect. When leaders lose trust, they lose everything. We use an exercise in our workshops comparing good and bad leaders. The core or each is charisma and trust. Followers that trust leaders, do anything for them. Review history for great examples, from Attila the Hun, to Hitler to Saddam Hussein; the respective followers right or wrong, place all their faith because of trust. Similar to communication, trust is the core of great leadership.

Any ideas?

Rep. Peter Welch introduced legislation to crack down on excessive Wall Street bonuses and help small businesses obtain the credit they need to survive and to create jobs. Welch unveiled the Wall Street Bonus Tax Act at a press conference at Burlington International Airport as he prepared to return to Washington for the 2010 legislative year. Welchs bill would tax bonuses at firms that have received assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program at a rate of 50 percent for all compensation in excess of $50000. Revenues generated through the tax would fund a new direct lending program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Karl Marx thought of socialism as a transitional stage of society between capitalism and communism “distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done” (See Merriam-Webster). If the work done by Wall Street was massive wealth destruction and economic collapse, shouldn’t we be taking money back from them?

Any ideas?

I continue to remember that in 2007 the Ferrari dealers could not keep enough Ferrari’s in stock (especially red ones!) because so many of the of the investment bankers wanted to purchase this “toy” with a portion of their bonus checks.

Any ideas?

I just read this story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html?_r=1&ref=business
About how big failed financial firms like Bank of America have decided to pay out $4 billion to $5 billion in bonuses despite new, gaping losses that forced Bank of America to seek a second financial lifeline from Washington.
So it seems that these big institutions complain that they are broke, then they borrow taxpayer dollars, and then piss it all away on private jets, lavish parties, and billion dollar bonuses for their top executives.

WOW! How can I get some of this free cash? I could become a billionaire almost instantly !!!

My biggest question is: WHY DO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE CONTINUE TO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE ROBBED LIKE THIS???

Is everyone in America blind to this crime that is happening to them? It is not like some crook coming up to you with a gun and demanding $200 from your wallet, no, it is MUCH bigger. It is like a banker coming up to you with a gun and demanding your house, your car, all of your cash in your wallet and all of your savings in your bank, and then he feels good about what he has done, so he goes to your neighbor and does the same, and then on to the next guy, and so on and so on. This is crime beyond any in the history of America.

So why is it that people are not rioting in the streets and demanding something be done about it?

Any ideas?

Our friends on Wall Street deserve every penny of their bonus money…

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… and I do mean “our friends”. A friend in the truest sense of the word, will take on the hard stuff. When you are doing something wrong or acting inappropriately, a true friend will let you know. If your life is spinning out of control and your actions are endangering your life and affecting your family and people who care about you, a true friend will step up their game to help you. You will fight them all the way, but a true friend will endure because that’s what true friends do.

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Wall Street has been a true friend to not only us (the average Joe in the United States of America), but the entire world. Wall Street stepped up their game to help us all. They weren’t deterred by the anger and hate that they knew would be coming. The world was on a destructive road and they, being true friends, did what had to be done and the rest, as they say, is history.

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The events on Wall Street made the world painfully aware of the power and influence a handful of greedy people can have over the rest of us. They also brought to light that what we do in the United States of America can have and does have a profound effect on the rest of the world. For this we owe Wall Street a tremendous debt and those bonuses would just be a small down payment. You see, in the future, when we look back, we will realize that Wall Street may have saved our lives – all of our lives. Will we ever be able to repay them for that?

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The first decade of the 21st Century has been a decade of crisis: 911, Katrina, Iraq, Afghanistan, Detroit, terrorism, swine flu, Health Care, droughts, floods, forest fires, tsunamis, earthquakes; and the meltdown of our financial institutions. These will all look pale in comparison to the catastrophe we are creating. The factors that led to the collapse of Wall Street are the same as the ones which will forever change the planet we live on. Unchecked power & influence combined with the greed and a blatant disregard for anyone else or what is right. The consequences of what happened on Wall Street, although devastating, will be minor in comparison to what is awaiting us.

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If you are guessing that it’s Global Warming you are wrong. The debate and argument are engineered diversions. They are a smokescreen, a magician’s trick to keep your eye away from the truth. Whether it’s real or not the effects of Global Warming are only part of a much bigger problem. The “truth” is not controversial. The average person on Main Street knows it. There is not a scientific difference of opinion (not that there is a valid one concerning Global Warming). What has and is happening is that most of us are not aware of the extent of the problem or the short amount of time we have left to act.

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The problem, and I repeat, there is absolutely no difference of scientific opinion, is the condition of our various ecosystems. Our Planets’ immune system, the one that makes it possible for us to live “outside” is failing. Every single natural mechanism responsible for maintaining our health and well-being is in a state of rapid decline. EVERY SINGLE ONE! We must also realize that the only thing we have to pay Mother Earth for keeping us “healthy” is respect. So far that has been a price we have not been willing to pay. If we had to pay for the services that the Earth does for free, it would cost around $40,000,000,000,000 per year.

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We have serious National Security issues today, largely due to the lifestyle and opportunities we have been blessed with in this country. If you have concerns now, what do you think it will be like when gas and water are both selling for $20 a gallon and are in short supply?

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During the short span of the Industrial Age, we have polluted our rivers and oceans by our indiscriminate use of pesticides and fertilizers. We have manufactured massive dead zones where rivers run to our seas. We have destroyed our rain forests and old growth forests. Fish now come with mercury warnings from 49 of our 50 states and on any predatory fish taken from our oceans. Our throw away society has developed a floating plastic island the size of Texas that is breaking down chemically and is adversely affecting every living thing around it, further degrading our food supply. Instances of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma have all increased dramatically and continue to rise at alarming rates.

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Your Doctor tells you that you are in the advanced stages of diabetes or heart disease. You have lung cancer or breast cancer. Do you cut out the tumor? Do you change the way you have lived your life? Anyone who wants to stay alive will do whatever it takes to have more time here on earth to be with family and loved ones. Those who choose not to change leave the people who know them wondering why.

I am wondering why. We, collectively, have been informed that our lifestyle is slowing killing us and making us unhealthy. We, collectively, have ignored the warnings. We have been told that the planet we live on has a number of fatal diseases, her lungs are failing, her blood has been poisoned and her immune system will soon cease to function. As dire as this prognosis is, we have also been told that if we change the way we live our lives, we could all live long healthy lives.

So let us all thank our good friends on Wall Street for making us aware of how much control we have given to a handful of greedy people. We have also given that same control to industries that have become responsible for the fate of the quality of life for all life on our planet, for us, the generations to come – our sons & daughters, their grandchildren and all who follow. Unfortunately none have taken their responsibilities, to us, future generations or Mother Earth; very seriously. If we continue on our chosen path, we won’t have to travel to the Moon or Mars to build “space stations”. We will be able to build and test them right here at home. We are creating an environment which “we can take a trip and never leave the farm”.

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The road we have chosen will create a lifestyle which future generations will inherit. It will be far different from what all of us have been blessed with. We have made this choice by our past actions and inactions. We can choose to create new industries and jobs manufacturing enclosed, self contained habitats where our descendants will live, work, play and grow their food or we can choose a more sensible path.

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We have a tremendous opportunity if we all get involved and use just a small amount of common sense. Does it make sense to destroy a $40 trillion a year industry? If we are to pass this planet to our sons and daughters shouldn’t it, at the very least, be in the same condition as we got it? We must start factoring in the long term impact of industries and how they will affect all of us – present and future. Who would have thought a handful of bankers could cause so much pain? We can no longer run from the true cost of things. That was tried by the previous administration by not including, in their annual budgets, the billions of dollars spent each month on two wars. How much do you think that approach has helped?

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If you like the neighborhood you are living in, love the climate, don’t want to move but your house is starting to fall apart; you rebuild it. You finance your remodeling project for 25-30 years not 4 years. In this country almost everything is falling apart. We have lost or are losing whole industries: steel, textile, furniture and computer. Our infrastructure is decaying and in some cases has become so dangerous that it has been responsible for the needless loss of life. We teach our kids that more is better, that what we use up just goes away, and how our planet works has no place in their curriculum,

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If we had an effective educational system most of the problems we are faced with today wouldn’t be happening. We would know and our children would know that there is a balance to things. There is an essential part of our existence that has nothing to do with texting, tweeting, Google, the Internet, HD TV, cars, video games and fashion. Yet how many of us know that our lifestyle is the reason that 50,000 species are sentenced to extinction each year and that we are working very hard to increase those numbers.

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We have many options. One is to support industries that work in balance with nature. We could put every man and woman to work by supporting and building industries that would expand instead of contract: high speed rail, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro electric power, electric & hydrogen powered vehicles, quality education, weatherizing homes and commercial buildings, responsible farming methods, new bridges, a new National Security System, and hydrogen & “smart” highways; are only a few. The way we did things a 100 years ago no longer make sense today. Technologies and methods that didn’t make sense 50 years ago are actually some of the best choices we have today. Not only are they better from an environmental perspective but they make more sense from a capitalist’s perspective as well. We don’t have to give up our big SUVs or our HD TVs. We just need to change the way we power them.

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The one option we don’t have is time. We are truly in the 11th hour of holding on to the way we have lived on this planet. We don’t have ten or twenty years to change the way we do things. If you have not already seen it, I urge you watch “The 11th Hour”. It is a documentary about some of the issues I have mentioned here. It was produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio who does an excellent job of conveying what is the most important message pertaining to the most important issue of our time.

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Many of us, who have been aware of the issue, have felt powerless to fight the Special Interests that have been in control. But the power of the internet has leveled the battlefield a bit. Big corporations can no longer silence the common voice. The ability to convey accurate information quickly, to many and at no cost, has given us a vehicle which can be used to expose the actions of greedy corporations and expose some of our elected politicians that have been bought and paid for by Big Money. As stewards of this planet, we have an obligation to a higher power. What we don’t do today will echo badly through eternity.

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Our forefathers were a renegade band of gifted and smart individuals. They framed our Constitution in such a way that it could adjust with time based on world conditions. They knew it would have to in order to live on, as an effective Democracy, implementing the will of the people. It has been modified and it still lives on but it’s the will of large corporations that is being implemented. The two party system made sense at the beginning and it still makes sense, unfortunately it is not working today. The process has been hijacked by Special Interests. Do you think the latest Supreme Court ruling dealing with Campaign Finance will affect the influence Big Money already has? Ask yourself one question. When was the last time a truly forward thinking “project” has been passed by our Congress?

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I offer one suggestion that was attempted a while ago but didn’t catch on. “Throw the bastards out!” We pay our members of Congress six figure incomes, provide them with their choice of superior Health Insurance programs (with no mention of pre-existing conditions) and give them excellent retirement benefits. The individuals we elected as Democrats and Republicans (most) have banned together to ensure their re-elections rather than doing the work we are paying them to do. The Filibuster is a fairly new tactic (last 20 years). It is the reason many things that should have happened – haven’t. It’s time for US to filibuster the “filibustors”.

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In all of our upcoming elections we only vote for Independent Candidates. Incumbents could denounce their party affiliations and if vetted (not having a history of supporting Special Interests), could become an election pick. We can setup “local” websites for candidates to get their message out without the cost of a large campaign. This structure could be used for City, County, State and National elections. This would break the strangle hold Big Money has had on our election process. It would make it possible to elect people for their ideas not their wallets. The billions of dollars saved could be used for much better causes.

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I think the sleeping giant is beginning to wake. We can thank Wall Street for giving him the first shake. We have a number of problems that can wait 10-20 years to be addressed by a functioning government. But we do not have 20 years for this one. We don’t even have 10 years to start solving the most critical issue man has ever faced. If we are to preserve our way of life for future generations, the giant must wake now and get involved. Remember what he did the last time someone woke him up?

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It’s time to “Re-power the People.”

What do you think? Please comment below to tell me.