Mr. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, who has received a bonus of about $68 million in the past, is in line to possibly receive this year a bonus of $100 million! Unbelievable!
But here is what the Times Online reports:
Mr Blankfein took home his biggest bonus so far in 2007, when he was paid $67.9 million. Goldman’s profits last year were $1.8 billion higher than in 2007. This leaves the bank with a justification to pay him even more although payouts will be made in shares rather than cash to make them more politically palatable. Some rival bankers claim Mr Blankfein could receive up to $100 million, though even a much lower figure could prove politically explosive.
The fact that he just about destroyed the company and the economy, and the government had to rescue the company, does not seem to matter. Give the CEO $100 million.
How much of a bonus do you get? Do you even get a bonus? Do you even have a job? You and I not doing very well is not as bad as CEO Blankfein not getting a $100 million bonus. You know, this is fair and balanced.
Maybe the situation is not so bad. Because of the political situation, perhaps Blankfein will not get the whole $100 million. So says Alan Johnson, a Wall Street compensation consultant:
Johnson estimated that Blankfein will get a bonus of more than $40 million for 2009, a year in which Goldman reported record earnings of $13.39 billion.
Devastating! How on earth can Blankfein get along on only $40 million? This is a reduction of $60 million! The reduction is more than the amount he will get. Terrible. Let's start a collection to help poor CEO Blankfein. But then again, maybe he will get the full $100 million.
Republicans are outraged that President Obama wants to cap the pay of CEOs like Blankfein. Here are a few Republican reactions:
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl:
Because of their excesses, very bad things begin to happen, like the United States government telling a company what it can pay its employees. That's not a good thing in America.
Sen. Mel Martinez:
What executives have done is troubling, but it's equally troubling to have government telling shareholders how much they can pay the executives.
Sen. James Inhofe
.......as I was listening to him make those statements I thought, is this still America? Do we really tell people how to run [a business], and who to pay and how much to pay?
No matter how greedy financial CEOs are, Republicans are on their side. No matter how bad it gets for working people, Republicans don't give a damn. Every time Republicans are asked to help ordinary workers through a stimulus bill or through a jobs bill or through a home-foreclosure bill, they say NO. They want tax cuts for the rich financial people and nothing for the poor and middle class workers.
And yet, the Republicans bamboozled the ordinary people to decry Obama and his progressive policies and to adopt the help-the-CEOs of the Republicans.
Time to wake up. If you are not rich, don't vote for Republicans who favor the rich against the rest of us. Democrats are not perfect in this respect. But they are more concerned with the needs of every day Americans than Republicans are.
We don't need bonuses for economy destroyers. We need money to help ordinary people get good jobs. Vote for a Democratic representative and a Democratic senator who will help President Obama improve the economy for ordinary Americans.
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