Merill pays out 1 million to 700 pple as America goes to the dogs

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by MohdSalleh, Feb 11, 2009.

  1. Merrill bonuses made 696 millionaires: Probe
    12 Feb 2009, 0414 hrs IST, AGENCIES

    WASHINGTON: Merrill Lynch quietly paid out at least one million dollars bonus each to about 700 top executive even when the investment house was bleeding with losses last year, a probe has revealed.

    They were part of 3.6 billion dollars in the firm's bonus payments in December before the announcement of its fourth quarterly losses and takeover by Bank of America, the investigation by the New York state Attorney General's office showed.

    "696 individuals received bonuses of one million dollars or more," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said of the Merrill scandal in a letter to a lawmaker heading the House of Representatives financial services committee.

    Cuomo said "these payments and their curious timing raise serious questions as to whether the Merrill Lynch and Bank of America boards of directors were derelict in their duties and violated their fiduciary obligations," according to a copy of the letter.

    Bank of America said recently it was aware of the amounts and timing of the bonuses even though previous reports had suggested the top bank was surprised by the payout.

    Cuomo said in his letter to Democratic lawmaker Barney Frank that his office was also examining whether senior officials at both companies "violated their own fiduciary obligations to shareholders.

    "If they did, this raises additional serious issues with regard to the inappropriate use of taxpayer funds," he said.

    "Merrill Lynch's decision to secretly and prematurely award approximately 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses, and Bank of America's apparent complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions," he said.

    Shareholders and experts had expressed concern over Merrill's 15.3 billion fourth-quarter loss, which caused Bank of America to request a second round of government bailout on January 16.

    Bank of America's shareholders voted to approve Merrill's takeover on December 5.

    Former Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain, Bank of America chief administrative officer J. Steele Alphin and other top executives have been summoned to provide testimony in the probe.

    "One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding," Cuomo said.

    Cuomo said the Merrill Lynch bonus payment was "nothing short of staggering."

    While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the pool, the vast majority of these funds were "disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals."

    "Indeed, Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees."
     
  2. That's how capitalism works, those who work the hardest, add significant value, and produce the most, earn the most.
     
  3. Banff01

    Banff01

    Only in this case, the capitalism unexplainably erred and the invisible hand of the free market handed the tax payers the bill. Those who did shit, sounded like they know everything and had family and friends in the right places got the most cream.
     
  4. jd7419

    jd7419

    While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the pool, the vast majority of these funds were "disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals."


    I guess the data entry and mail runners should get the same bonuses as the salesman who brought in $750,000,000 of assets or the trader who made $40,000,000 in profits. This is the endgame the democrats have in mind and the sheep will cheer for it.
     
  5. Remember Stanley O'Neal's package when he left ? :D


    Unfortunately Joe Public is too busy watching Nascar to start a revolution !!!


    Heads must drop !!!
     
  6. jsmith

    jsmith

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={EE91F361-96FD-4CF8-B204-8090EBD755C2}

    "One disturbing question that must be answered," Cuomo told Frank, "is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding.

    "We plan to require top officials at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to answer this question and to provide justifications for the massive bonuses they paid ahead of their massive losses."
    Cuomo also detailed how the bonus pool was spread among staff.

    He said that while the bonus pool encompassed 39,000 employees, the lion's share went to a relatively small number of executives. "Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees," Cuomo said.
    Cuomo's office determined that $121 million was doled out to the biggest four bonus recipients, who were not identified by the attorney general.

    The next four biggest beneficiaries split a total $62 million in bonuses, while another six divvied up $66 million.
    As to the size of individual bonuses, Cuomo said 14 staffers got bonuses of $10 million or more and 20 received bonuses of at least $8 million, while a group of about 200 got $3 million or more.
     
  7. dhpar

    dhpar

    wtf; 99% of ET poster are just jealous communist monkies

    what's the problem with a guy who made $10m to receive $1m+ bonus? or a risk manager who helped to save another $10m? etc etc

    do you think these people have no other place to go?

    I guess you believe that the best thing to do is to let the best and profitable people to leave and let incompetents to try to save banks with taxpayer's money - good luck and middle finger _!_
     
  8. I hate to break the news to u but true capitalism doesn't exist here in the usa. that invisible hand u are referring to is the fed and the barney franks in washington. we lack the judicial system which should prosecute the thieves in washington, instead we bail them out and then expect the lies and stealing to stop.
     


  9. you're either retarded, or a psychopath.

    How can Merill employees have added significant value when it was effectively bankrupted by activities of said employees?

    Everyone should read the link. It explains correctly why people can't figure out why their own government would screw them.

    http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/6025.aspx

    In the book Political Ponerology, Andrew Lobaczewski claims that about 6% of the people within a population have psychopathic characters. The implications of this, which he recognized soon after World War II, stagger the mind. Moreover, he suggests that another 12% of the population has high susceptibility to psychopathic thought. In a world dominated by hierarchical structures, these people sieze control of the key positions and create a so-called “pathocracy.” Lobaczewski continues, writing in ways that clearly anticipate the current reality:

    Within this [pathocratic] system, the common man is blamed for not having been born a psychopath, and is considered good for nothing except hard work, fighting and dying to protect a system of government he can neither sufficiently comprehend nor ever consider to be his own. An ever-strengthening network of psychopathic and related individuals gradually starts to dominate, overshadowing the others.



    My take is Andrew Lobaczewski's claim of 6% is too low. The total psychopath population is between 14% to 20% with 5% being at the extreme end.

    Some populations with localized ( inbreeding) marriage systems will have higher numbers. Explaining why entire countries such as Pakistan are effectively Psychopathic populations.
     
  10. ohhh tt explains MSCHEY, he's a redneck you see.:cool:
     
    #10     Feb 11, 2009