Goldman Sachs and the mystery of ‘revolving door’ bonuses

by Eleanor Bloxham DECEMBER 9, 2014, 3:00 PM EST

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Would you prefer bankers to be doing “God’s work,”—how Lloyd Blankfein described the role of banks in 2009—or the government’s? And if a banker does government work, is he also, somehow, doing God’s work, and therefore deserves celestial pay?

Bank shareholders will need to ponder these issues, among others, as they weigh a set of proposals the AFL-CIO office of investment is now adding to bank proxies for next year. The proposals aim to get banks to explain their payouts of large, unearned bonuses to executives who choose to leave and take government jobs.

In an opinion piece published in November, The Wall Street Journal said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka “and his liberal allies are on to something here, and we hope to make common cause with them in seeking more information on the important questions about Mr. Lew that were never answered in 2013.” Jack Lew was appointed U.S. Secretary of the Treasury last year and, the Journal item noted, “The terms of Mr. Lew’s original employment contract with Citigroup included a bonus guarantee if he left the bank for a high level position with the United States government or regulatory body.”

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But does the government really need more bankers? Don’t the banks have enough paid lobbyists? And wouldn’t having more career civil servants—in other words, conscientious bureaucrats with no particular axes to grind—be better for everyone?...

Full editorial:

http://fortune.com/2014/12/09/goldman-sachs-pay-revolving-door/