Ex-CEO Andrew Sullivan made somewhere between $300 million and $500 million in his last 5 years with AIG; AIG executives
went on a "retreat" costing $400,000 after AIG received federal bailout money; Joseph Cassano, head of AIG's
financial products division, received $280 million in compensation in the last 8 years.
J. P. Morgan
Goldman Sachs
Goldman doesn't like $500,000 salary cap; will repay TARP mone; Received $12.9 billion (exposure) from AIG from AIG's
bailout bonanza
Merrill Lynch
Merrill received $6.8 billion through AIG via AIG's bailout package
Citigroup
Ex-CEO Sandy Weill just took a vacation to Mexico in the corporate jet
Moody's
UBS
UBS received $5.0 billion through AIG via AIG's federal
bailout package
Standard & Poors
H&R Block
Bank of America
As ABC reported, Bank of America took its $45 billion in bailout funds and sponsored a five-day carnival outside the
Super Bowl stadium: B of A received $5.2 billion through AIG via AIG's federal
bailout package
Salomon Brothers
Madoff
A stock analyst, Markopolos, warned the SEC numerous times that Madoff's scheme was phony; the SEC did
little or nothing
Countrywide
(no longer in business)
WELLS FARGO
Company had scheduled a "conference" in Las Vegas - it was cancelled due to public outcry
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley took its $10 billion in bailout money and held a three-day conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach.
Societe Generale
received $11.9 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
Deutsche Bank
received $11.8 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
Barclays
received
$8.5 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
BNP Paribas
received $4.9 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
HSBC
received $3.5 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
Stanford Group
Dresdner Bank
received $2.6 billion through AIG via AIG's federal bailout package
truthout.org —
In its last days as an independent company, Merrill gave performance-based bonuses exclusively to employees earning $300,000
a year or more and holding a rank of vice president or higher, according to their financial statements. $3.62 billion was
handed out to these executives - a sum equal to 36.2 percent of the $10 billion in taxpayer funds th
alternet.org —Rolling
Stone's Matt Taibbi pens an epic rant about AIG commodities trader Jake DeSantis' letter to the NY Times. Loosely
paraphrased, Matt's points include: 1) Jake is a liar, 2) Jake is a dumbass, 3) Jake is a greedy fuck and 4) Jake is a
worthless scrap of humanity. Not necessarily in that order.
nytimes.com —The following is
a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial
products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.
rawstory.com —Just
months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of
44 million Americans departed from its conservative investment strategy and decided to put much of its $64 billion insurance
fund into stocks.
What Work Is,
Poem for the Workingman
We
stand in the rain in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work. You know what work is--if you're old enough to read this you know what work is, although you may not do it. Forget you. This is about waiting, shifting from one foot to another. Feeling the light rain falling like mist into your hair, blurring your vision until you think you see your own brother ahead of you, maybe ten places. You rub your glasses with your fingers, and of course it's someone else's brother, narrower across the shoulders than yours but with the same
sad slouch, the grin that does not hide the stubbornness, the sad refusal to give in to rain, to the hours
wasted waiting, to the knowledge that somewhere ahead a man is waiting who will say, "No, we're
not hiring today," for any reason he wants. You love your brother, now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother, who's not beside you or behind or ahead because he's home trying
to sleep off a miserable night shift at Cadillac so he can get up before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing Wagner, the opera you hate most, the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him you loved him, held his wide shoulders, opened your eyes wide and said
those words, and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never done something so simple, so obvious, not because
you're too young or too dumb, not because you're jealous or even mean or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no, just because you don't know what work is.
nytimes.com —Merrill Lynch paid out bonuses of more than $1 million
apiece to 696 people last year just as the firm ’s merger with Bank of America closed, according to the New York attorney
general.
soapboxroadshow.blogspot.com —Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla) $45,900; Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) $41,375; Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) $28,200; Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz)* $28,150; Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) $27,500; Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) $20,100; Sen. John Cornyn
(R-Texas)$19,700; Sen. Charles E. Schumer $17,000 Rep. Charlie A. Gonzalez (D-Texas) $15,500; Rep. Max Sandlin
vanityfair.com —After getting $125 billion in taxpayer bailouts, the top officers at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and three
other banks agreed to forgo their 2008 bonuses. Now they ’re awarding billions to their troops. Can government “claw
back” that money?
huffingtonpost.com —2 documents describe how the sub-prime mess could have been averted - one from the FBI showing massive fraud, and
the other from S&P showing coverup.
youtube.com — Democratic
Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio talks with FOX Business about the extent of the fraud perpetrated by the Stanford Group,
and the coming revelations about the case that may involve a conspiracy at the highest levels of government!
thedailyshow.com — Republicans are
against the stimulus bill, but that doesn't mean they won't take the money. Bobby Jindal is a particularly excellent
example.
nytimes.com —Louisiana
has gotten $130 billion in post-Katrina aid. How is it that the stars of the Republican austerity movement come from the states
that suck up the most federal money? Taxpayers in New York send way more to Washington than they get back so more can go to
places like Alaska and Louisiana.
bloomberg.com —A record 19 million U.S. houses stood empty at the end of 2008 as banks seized homes faster than they could sell them
and prices continued to fall.
npr.org —Harry
Markopolos waged a decade-long campaign to alert regulators to problems in the operations of fallen money manager Bernard
Madoff. But, he told lawmakers on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission failed to act despite receiving credible
allegations of fraud.
