Pay czar quits fight over banks' bonuses

Source: AP

Obama's bailout watchman drops bluster over $1.6 billion given to executives. Gulf Coast residents worry he'll go easy on BP, too

Published on Saturday, Jul 24, 2010

WASHINGTON: For all his tough talk about excessive pay for bankers, the Obama administration's pay czar let the executives go without a fight.

Kenneth Feinberg announced Friday that he would not try to recoup $1.6 billion in compensation given to top executives at bailed-out banks because he thought shaming them was punishment enough.

His decision to go easy on 17 banks that made ''ill-advised'' payments to their executives will probably fuel concerns about how he will oversee the $20 billion oil-spill compensation fund created by BP.

''I'm not suggesting we should blink or turn the other cheek,'' Feinberg said in an interview with the Associated Press. ''These 17 companies were singled out for obviously bad behavior. The question is: At what point are you piling on and going beyond what is warranted?''

He could not force the banks to repay the money, but the law instructed him to negotiate with banks to return money if he determined that the pay packages were ''contrary to the public interest'' — language that he opted not to use.


Read more: http://www.ohio.com/news/nation/99160424.html

yeah....that $20 Billion oil spill fund which us skeptics and cynics were told was the epitome of Obama's political/mental/financial jiu-jitsu and that we should just all shut up and eat our crow and why can't we just be happy and admit this grand acheivement is being overseen by this guy?

Yeah, I'll be putting my portion of crow in the freezer to possibly be eaten at a later date by someone other than myself.

Gutless wonders abound in this administration.

though I am not saying we picked a bad president (could be worse after all, McCain could be president with Palin as his VP) but I think alot of people including myself were expecting far to much from him, partly based upon his promises but also I think because we as well as Obama forgot that the president has to cut deals to get stuff done in washington as distasteful as some of those deals may be.
I will not however give up the hope that he will be able to do more than he has been able to do either nearer the end of his term or during his 2nd term.

Plus the president has to enforce the law... and the law has been so watered down with regards to bank regulation for the last 30 years that it's a wonder the banks waited so long to steal our money. It's no coincidence the "Crisis" happened two minutes before Obama took office. They were holding us ransom... and then Paulson and Geithner made sure that there weren't any rules they needed to follow after taking the money. It was Highway Robbery.

God knows it cuts into all the 'it's not our fault if we don't vote and republicans get in there and make things worse!' fun the peanut gallery has here.

I haven't noticed much... I am still uninsured, and will likely remain so. I still don't have much hope of finding a good job and cannot join the military as an out gay man. I still cannot get married and do not have legal protections against discrimination (incidentally, that is why I am uninsured and out of work). I am frustrated as hell there is little money for domestic spending, but Democrats refuse to end the overseas occupations and significantly reduce military expenditures. For god's sake... we had every right to think our lives would somehow be noticeably different. I realize things aren't going to change overnight, but he should have been able to touch the lives of the lower middle class by now in some meaningful way.

That says it all dencol ...

If the House is lost, then the whole game changes.

it is the fault of the politician's who FAILED to live up to their campaign promises. We did our part - the ball was dropped by the other players we put in.

Should be a Changey Lawey thing

I hate to say it, but I don't see how anyone could legally recoup the money. The Congress has so rigged the books that I'm surprised the White House has got anything regulatory left to enforce...

Or is he collecting a check for something of use?

I'm sure he'll be rewarded handsomely for his decision to let the crooks on wall street off.

That seems more likely.

You give me a couple hundred million dollars (after taxes of course) and you can shame me everyday for the rest of my life. Does waste of a suit really believe that 'shaming' these guys who have no shame is sufficient punishment. The only way to show these CEO's you mean business is by hurting them in the pocket book. What I would really like to see is an administration that isn't so filled with business 'experts'. How about some labor experts, or researchers or other people that know what it is like to live in the real world.

That and confiscate their assets as though they were drug dealers or tax evaders.

'He could not force the banks to repay the money.'

Never forget that this is the same guy who decided that wealthy 9/11 victims' lives were worth many times more than poor 9/11 victims' lives.

Having Feinberg as the bailout watchman is truly letting the fox guard the henhouse.

Happy karma. So sad.

Kenneth Feinberg announced Friday that he would not try to recoup $1.6 billion in compensation given to top executives at bailed-out banks because he thought shaming them was punishment enough.

:banghead:

Ya'll keep up the good fight now, ya hear!?!? Remember all we've accomplished!!! {Ignore this}.

can find worth fighting for -

oh yeah- I almost forgot, we are murdering a hapless population with two land wars in Asia - blood running in rivers slaughtering impoverished people who don't give wa fuck about usa other than as a customer of a massive amount of opium products.

Yep - the centrists are opening a can of whoop-ass in Afghanistan, while we are raped every fucking day by wall street.

So is this is the best the democrats can do? Really? This is hope and change?

God help the non-rich.

Sickening - we will be consumed by our greed and indifference to human suffering.

If someone sets up a Guillotine on wall street, let me know. I'll be happy to help.

Sure. Obama fought really hard to keep the excise tax on the benefits of working people who had comprehensive coverage.

And we can look forward to another two and a half years of this weak-kneed, Caspar Milquetoast, pansy-ass, corporate-whore, selling out bullshit.

:grr:

Pretty surprising.

Fuck Hymn.

...depressing.

Since it's so effective.

Feinberg, you FUCKHAT!!!!!!!!!

:mad:

:nuke:

I went to the food pantry at a local church to donate some produce from the garden. This particular one is open one Saturday a month for people in the same zip code. I observed for quite a long time. Dozens of families with their children in tow -- one young father was wearing an Army National Guard T-shirt. Elderly folks. Disabled folks. Some Ukrainian immigrants. Many obviously able-bodied people who just don't have work.

There was no flaw with the operation. People were treated with dignity and helpfulness. Kudos to the state's Food Bank and the volunteers.

But I came home and read this article where the man in charge whines about how he can't do anything to stop the crooks who have been looting America's treasure.

First requirement for that kind of job should be a volunteer stint at a local food pantry for a couple of months!!!!!

"In ways large and small we've begun to deliver on the change you fought so hard for," Obama said.

"We can't afford to slide backward. And that's the choice America faces this November," he added. "Keep up the fight."

Whether during crises or not. The problem is, BOD members often empathize strongly with their CEOs, at least partly because many of them are themselves CEOs at other companies. Throw in a few board interlocks and you've got the reason for runaway executive pay. I once hoped that shareholders would step in and do something. But in today's diverse world of stock ownership (pension funds owning a number of different mutual funds, etc), individuals are often unaware of which particular equities they actuall own. So shareholders are not going to step in either.

And now this. I have recently come to believe that the only thing that will cure this disease is a top marginal tax rate of 70% or more on all income. It was that much or higher for 35 years, until Reagan came along.

Did he actually say that?

On edit: Wait, or is it tragedy? Any Greek scholars here?

this is why some of him are extremely disappointed in him. This is just wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Feinberg cannot be trusted in my opinion.

There was a little ceremony and everything. And it was different than what a republican would have signed. Never mind that it's completely toothless and he has no intention of enforcing it or putting people in place who he is confident will enforce it. He had a nice little ceremony and he's better than a republican. That's supposed to be enough.

This was my worry about Health Care Reform. Too much reliance on enforcement and a strong body of enforcement to make it work. And I think this admin's track record on that is to be generous, piss poor.

It's part and parcel to the pattern that anyone can see for themselves in this administration.

The a$$kisser will be making millions as a lobbyist very soon

reform if we ever want ANY representation in D.C.

Maybe they are all too content with watching the crap on TV while
being shat upon?
:shrug:

As soon as I read the article, that's what struck me head on. :puke:

I have no faith in this guy sorting out the Gulf Coast payments.

:wtf:

in our criminal justice system

I was going to get $5M for a bonus and pay that year. Small price to pay. And these people are low on the conscience level so it makes no difference to them. And they are poised to make that much money again this year, so who's to worry?

Feinberg is a criminal for letting this go. It's OUR money!!!

and see how well our criminal system runs without penalties. No difference. These are white collar criminals risking the economy, getting their businesses bailed out by taxpayers and then getting rich quick b/c their businesses bounce back (maybe), thanks to the hardworking Americans who bailed them out. :grr:

Seems Feinberg would rather join them than beat them. :grr: :mad:

:grr:

Simple as that.