Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs 'expecting $100 million bonus'

[TheWebHead]

Source: Times of London

Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, could be about to pay its chief executive a bumper bonus of up to $100 million in defiance of moves by President Obama to take action against such payouts.

Bankers in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) told The Times yesterday they understood that Lloyd Blankfein and other top Goldman bankers outside Britain were set to receive some of the bank’s biggest-ever payouts. “This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama,” said a banker at one of Goldman’s rivals.

Goldman Sachs is becoming the focus of an increasingly acrimonious political and financial showdown over the payment of multimillion-pound bonuses.Last week the US President described bonuses paid out by some banks as “the height of irresponsibility” and “shameful”.

Read more: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7010492.ece

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FWIW, they paid $6.44 billion in corporate taxes in 2009... It'll be interesting to see how DC responds if this figure is true.

[hobbit709]

1. Madame Guillotine, may I introduce you to M. Blankfein.

[roguevalley]

10. I would pull the lever.

[salguine]

14. But where to display the head, that's the question. Right above the door of

the New York Stock Exchange, maybe...

[Loge23]

24. ...next to Paulson's and Geithner's (nt)

Paulson presided over the greatest financial debacle since the Depression and gets to write a book about it!
Excert in the WSJ today: He's hiding behind God now (or is that Blankfein).

[No Elephants]

18. Dream on.

[unabelladonna]

2. i want to say something

but it would get me in trouble.
this is vile. why would anyone need this amount of money?

[Lost4words]

28. to keep the best talent of course. nt

[HBravo]

3. He earned it.

:sarcasm:

[Octafish]

31. You owe me a new monitor.

Har har. What a joy it is to laugh. Such, ah, jokers!

[SlingBlade]

4. I like Grapes .... How bout Dem Cowboy's ... Did ya notice..

the weather lately ?

[UpInArms]

5. this is wrong is so many ways

I hope there is a life in the hereafter so that this POS can burn in hell for all of eternity.

[onehandle]

6. The other day it was posted that the CEO of American Express got a 60% salary raise to 2 mil.

A lot of DUers were in a huff about that.

I shrugged it off thinking that it wasn't really that much compared to things like this.

[Lucky Luciano]

11. Salaries and bonuses are different. Blankfein's salary is only $600K. nt

[Paper Roses]

25. Only? n/t

[kentauros]

33. Yeah, only.

To put it in perspective, his salary is 0.6% of his bonus. That would be like one of us with a 50k/year salary getting an end of the year bonus of 8.3 million. He likely considers 600k/year a "poverty" wage and relies on his bonuses as his "real" income.

That doesn't make it right, but that's how they see it.

[depakid]

7. Obama at the SOTU (direct quote) "I don't want to punish the banks"

Besides being an awful sound bite, it misses the point that there are literally thousands of crimes the banks have committed that that have gone unprosecuted.

The FBI warned of 12,000 cases of mortgage fraud being committed in 2004 alone, with banks initiating 80% of the fraud. The FBI repeatedly warned throughout the mid 2000's of the most massive wave of financial crimes being committed since the Savings and Loans Scandals during the 1980's.

Yet, the Savings and Loans scandal saw over a thousand industry insiders go to jail, while the current crisis has only seen a few crooks like Bernie Madoff go to jail. None of the big fish, who were the CEOs at the major banks who encouraged such "epidemic fraud," as the FBI labeled it, have been put in jail.

What the president could and should have done, in addition to calling for tough financial reform, was to call for a special task force armed with thousands of investigators to look into crimes committed by the big banks....

More on that here (thankfully, some few were paying attention to underlying message and weren't razzled and dazzled by the lofty rhetoric): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-elk/in-sotu-obama-says-he-doe_b_439798.html

Next thing you, we'll be hearing about how the health insurers are "not bad people...."

Oh, wait....

[No Elephants]

19. "it misses the point that there are literally thousands of crimes the banks

have committed that that have gone unprosecuted."

Of course it misses that point. Say what you will about Obama, he's no dummy.

[naaman fletcher]

8. I don't buy for a second that he is thumbing his nose at Obama.

Goldman and the Government, they are one and the same.

[taught_me_patience]

9. I guarantee Obama will do absolutely nothing

I'm willing to put money on it.

[PSPS]

12. Sadly, you're right.

There would have already been another Pecora Commission started if anyone were serious about going after these criminals.

[GiveMeFreedom]

17. You all ready did. n/t

[lib2DaBone]

13. Sadly.. Coporations will get whatever they want...

..our leadershjip in Washington will make sure that Corporate robbers will get every assistance that they need.

Workers..tax payers..middle class.. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING..?

[Blue_Tires]

15. i chose the wrong profession...

[Zoeisright]

16. Grrr. It's time for torches and pitchforks.

I am sick to DEATH of these assholes taking our money and living the high life while cheating the public.

[No Elephants]

20. Meh. I don't see mobs of villagers, or city dwellers or burbites taking to the streets.

Americans are sheep and those who govern us know that.

Were the frogs in the cold water that just kept getting a little hotter and a little hotter. We're full acclimated to life in the boiling water now. So comfy. Kind of makes you sleepy.

[Lost4words]

29. Its so very saddening to me that your assessment is accurate.

[kentauros]

35. If it were possible to educate the teabaggers,

then you would see just that.

However, if they haven't figured out who the real enemies are by now, then I don't think they'll do so in the near future...

[OneBlueSky]

21. that's more money than most of us would make in several lifetimes . . .

I often wonder just how much is enough for these people . . . I guess the concept just doesn't register with them . . .

[salin]

22. How much did Goldman Sachs get out of the AIG bailout?

wasn't their payout reportedly disproportionately bigger (on a dollar per "insured" dollar basis) than other smaller entities? So the rich dudes are all cool with 'socialism' when it comes to their bonuses.

[Ruby the Liberal]

47. They offered to settle for $0.40 on the dollar before Geithner stepped in

and made them agree to $1 on the $1 "to reduce investor concerns". (Or Morgan Stanley agreed to $0.40 - don't recall). Regardless - All 5 remaining Investment Banks had to agree on the AIG passthrough % or it would fail. In order to get them all to agree, Timmeh raised the low bid to full payout.

Blah.

[customerserviceguy]

23. It's not really a full $100 million

after commissions are paid to Timmy and Larry.

[Lost4words]

27. LOL!

spot on my friend :hi:

[Lost4words]

26. given in pennies, all at once, droped from 100' above.

I believe the man deserves his bonus.

[kentauros]

34. Hell, even a package of $100 bill bundles dropped from 100'

would be detrimental to his continued health :P

[Vinnie From Indy]

30. Break up Goldman!

The biggest lie being told by the Wall Street bankers is that these bonuses are needed to retain talent. It ranks right up there with the right-wing's assertion that the media is Liberal.

[AzDar]

32. Tax it @ 99% and I'm cool with it...

:puke:

[Johnny Harpo]

36. FUCK YOU LLOYD!...AND YOUR BUDDY TIMMY TOO!

n/t

[Romulox]

37. "Bernie, you're doing a heck of a job!" -- President Obama nt

[Romulox]

38. My #1 concern is that Blankfein not be forced to contribute any of that in excess of $250k to SS!

That wouldn't be fair!!!!

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

39. In any other country, a tank would have been driven through Lloyd Bankfiend's house.

But because this is weak-ass "UhMuhricUh", whose citizens are trained to believe they too will be a "Lloyd Bankfiend" someday if they just worked HARD enough, he takes it without a peep and we continue to struggle and blame it on the "Have Too Littles".

[SOS]

40. A money trail

Your paycheck > AIG > Goldman Sachs > Lloyd's pocket.

[avaistheone1]

41. It's how God would want it.

:sarcasm:

[tilsammans]

42. What really galls me: The word "expecting" re a $100M bonus

The sense of entitlement is despicable. :rant:

[DebbieCDC]

43. Levy a 99% tax on his corrupt ass bonus

That seems fair.

[yellerpup]

44. Nobody is worth that kind of money.

How many people in the world starved to death while he "worked" for this bonus?

[OhioChick]

45. Fucked up. Are any of our politicians saying anything about this? n/t

[Nihil]

48. What? And risk losing out on their bribes ... oops ... "donations"? (n/t)

[Ruby the Liberal]

46. Mr "Doing God's Work" Blankfein may want to look into the witness protection option

This isn't going to be popular. Lots of crazy people out there, Lloyd. Greed is sooooooo '80s.

Let us all know how this works out for ya, aye?

[TheWebHead]

49. Goldman Sachs chief spokesman Lucas Van Praag responds

to the Times report...

"There's speculation, and there is stupidity. This speculation transcends the simply stupid and takes it to an entirely new level...giving credibility to tittle-tattle is pretty shoddy journalism"