The opening hearings of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was somewhat upstaged by the tragedy in Haiti, but nevertheless compelled Wall Street chieftans to put in an appearance, which is more than President Obama has been able to d. And while Angelides himself was combative and slapped Lloyd Blankfein around a bit (pretty much every […]
Read more...By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. Following up on Yves’ earlier piece on the Obama Administration’s banker windfall compensation tax scheme, I want to talk about a competing plan by Sheila Bair. While the first plan seems designed for political purposes in an election year, this plan is geared more toward the longer-term and systemic […]
Read more...With its talk of new taxes on banks, is Team Obama reverting to its now well established pattern of crony capitalist giveaways with the occasional phony populist reform as an increasingly ineffective disguise? The extraordinarily unenthusiastic, perhaps inept by design, discussion of its plans to tax banks in some yet undetermined manner certainly says so. […]
Read more...Although I read it two months ago, I haven’t made much in the way of comments on Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Too Big Too Fail, figuring the ground was well plowed by others. However, the bit that I found the most shocking has not gotten the notice it deserves, so I am writing it up now. […]
Read more...Sandy Weill, former chief poohbah of Citigroup, tells us that he had nothing to do with the implosion of the sprawling behemoth. Everything he did was right, it was his successor, Chuck Prince, who screwed up (well maybe he was an itty bitty bit responsible by virtue of recommending Prince). Oh, and it’s Jamie Dimon […]
Read more...So we now have an official demonstration of what we all knew to be true: banksters giving their right to loot their companies top priority, and the greater fool public be damned, with Goldman the most egregious sinner. That firm’s self serving protestations to the contrary, it was a ward of the state, and would […]
Read more...Well, because he is a man of probity and is writing in the UK, where the standards for libel are much lower than in the US, former Barclays CEO Martin Taylor does not use the F (fraud) word, but that is precisely the behavior he describes. I know it is fashionable to depict the investment […]
Read more...A provocative report by the New Economics Foundation has made an effort to put a price tag on the broader costs and benefits of various types of work. As quoted in the Financial Times (hat tip Swedish Lex), the leader of this effort put it: Pay levels often don’t reflect the true value that is […]
Read more...If this Wall Street Journal account is true, AIG’s general counsel should be fired for cause: Ms. Kelly, AIG’s general counsel, has been at the insurer since 2006 and was appointed vice chairman in January under former CEO Edward Liddy. Several people familiar with the matter say Ms. Kelly asked other employees to join her […]
Read more...The New York Times discusses a study (supposedly released, but the paper has yet to be posted) by corporate governance expert and Harvard Law School professor Lucien Bebchuk (along with Alma Cohen and Holger Spamann) on how much the top echelon at failed firms Bear Stearns and Lehman really suffered when their firms imploded. The […]
Read more...There is a simply intriguing piece up at Reuters, which may signal a shift in the media version of the zeitgeist as more details of l’affaire Benmosche leak out. By way of background, a very good article at the Financial Times underscores a pet theory of mine: that the board knew exactly what it was […]
Read more...AIG’s CEO Robert Benmosche has displayed extraordinarily arrogance even before he took the job, so his latest stunt, a threat to leave AIG high and dry by quitting a mere three months in, should come as no surprise. Frankly, from the get-go, Benmosche fit the stereotype of a narcissistic top executive, with the extra seasoning […]
Read more...In America, it isn’t hard to answer the question in the headline “yes.” The oft recited, “Our employees are our greatest asset” is pure Orwellian prattle; most companies treat employees as liabilities, doing everything they can to minimize labor costs, getting rid of workers whenever possible. And this now extends well up into the management […]
Read more...By Marshall Auerback, an investment strategist and analyst who writes for New Deal 2.0. How appropriate that with Halloween just around the corner, the Fed and Treasury have announced a coordinated effort that will put the central bank at the forefront of pay regulation on the zombie firms now kept alive courtesy of US government […]
Read more...The Wall Street Journal reports that the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, is going to cut executive comp at 7 TARP recipients for the 25 most highly paid employees. Does this really mean anything? The press will noise it up as significant (and some outlets will no doubt finger wag at this “interference”) but the short […]
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