*********Update********
Thanks for your participation and kind comments for my diary. Everyone was especially civil and supportive. Lets keep fighting for good sensible regulations and pat the Obama Administration on the back when they do good.../peace
Many Kossacks have complained, I would be better about the bailouts if there were some regulations attached and some spine in the regulators...well it happened this week...hey you CEO don't deserve that salary or bonus of Bank of America...give it back.
Not only is he giving it back willingly, he is losing his job...as he deserves for bad management of one of the largest banks in the country. And regulators warned that this is just the beginning...they will review the compensation of the top 700 people in financial institutions that received significant TARP funds...Do you ever think John McBush would have ever done that...no f'ing way...
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...
Sure the naysayers will point to the fact that he has a pre-Obama/Geithner deal to get a $50 million pension and additional stock compensation which brings the total to about $69 million. But hey that was the past, not much we can do about that now. It is extrordinary in this quote:
Kenneth Feinberg, the government pay czar, suggested that Lewis should take no compensation for 2009. Lewis agreed, the spokesman said, because "he felt it was not in the best interest of Bank of America for him to get involved in a dispute with the paymaster."
The artical continues to say this incredible piece...
Feinberg had been expected to clamp down on compensation by cutting salaries for the most highly paid employees at their firms. But until now there's been little indication he would take away an employee's entire pay.
Indeed, the naysayers would have never guessed that Feinberg would recommend a $0 paycheck to a CEO of a Bank who benefitted from TARP!!!
Republicans and corporate executives are seeing this as a shot across the bow that the party is over
"It’s punitive and it’s mean-spirited, and it’s an attitude that will send shivers through every person who does business with the government or is regulated by the government," said Greg Donaldson, chairman of Donaldson Capital Management in Evansville, Ind.
They know if Feinberg can do that to Mr. Lewis, he can do it to any CEO who does business with the government. This is not the end either, on the heels of this incredible move, there is more hope for regulation in this incredible artical.
Lawrence Summers, Public Enemy #2 of Kossacks in the Obama administration fired the 2nd shot across the bow of regulated financial institutions today (boy there must be something in the water)...
http://finance.yahoo.com/...
"Financial institutions that have benefited from government support can, should, and must use this moment to think about what they can do for their country -- by accepting the necessary regulation to protect the American people," White House chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Friday at a conference sponsored by The Economist magazine.
Now this was not a speech in front of some liberal think tank, this was a speech to business people sponsored by the conservative leaning Economist!!! And this was not Elizabeth Warren...this was f'ing Lawrence Summers!!! Just incredible!!!
Folks the tide is turning and Obama is keeping his promises to fix the mess left by GWB and then to re-regulate in order to prevent it from happening again.
Mr. Summers continues...
Banks and other financial institutions must accept the Obama administration's push for the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would oversee mortgages, credit cards and overdraft practices. Summers said it was "a bit rich" for institutions that received billions in taxpayer money to complain that such an agency would inhibit financial innovation -- such as those that developed algorithms to maximize the gains from overdraft fees on customers' bounced checks.
Is this the same guy that many Kossacks thought would sell progressives down the river in favor of the fat cat bankers? The artical goes onto say that the regulations will be passed. Essentially, it was a very public shot across the bow...fight these regulations...and we can make it very unpleasant for you...couple that with Mr Feinberg's shot across the bow of taking 100% of your salary and bonus and Mr. Lewis accepting that decision without a fight as well as leaving his position...this is an unmistakable message...folks there is a new sheriff in town and his name is "Obama"...
All these things take time, but progress is being made. I do not feel sorry for these folks getting told, no bonus/salary for you, nor can we do anything about contracts that were agreed to pre-Obama...but going forward...it will be a different world...
So how about cheering the small victory with President Obama on a cold and rainy Friday in the NY Metro area.../peace