I can't believe the words I'm reading.
Thursday's WSJ, reporting on confirmation hearings for President Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, revealed the answer to Senator Elizabeth Warren's question about why no banksters are in jail.
Why not?
Because the banks pay the banksters only if they take high-powered policy or regulatory positions from which they can protect themselves and their co-conspiratorts.
Read the quote below the squiggle.
Here's Senator Hatch reading from Jack Lew's contract with Citigroup.
. . . Third, your employment agreement included a clause stating that ‘your guaranteed incentive and retention award’ would not be paid upon exit from Citigroup but there was an exception that you would receive that compensation ‘as a result of your acceptance of a full time high level position with the United States Government or a regulatory body.’
So:
1. He gets a bonus.
2. But if he leaves Citigroup he does NOT get the bonus.
3. HOWEVER, if he leaves Citigroup for "a full time high level position with the United States Government or a regulatory body," then, he gets the money.
No matter what you think about Hatch or the WSJ . . . and, in my case, that's not much . . . Hatch appears to be reading from Lew's contract with Citigroup and not making up accusations.
Think about: We will give you close to a million $$$ ONLY if you leave here and go to work for the very people who are regulating us -- wink, wink, wink.
In other parts of the world, this would be know as a bribe. Here, it's a bonus. I don't know what Tony Soprano would call it but it sounds like his way of doing business.
Why do any of us even try to be honest and hard-working?