Home » all category posts » Economics » Globalization

A Tale of Two Bankers


"If you look at Bob Diamond (#2 at Barclays), who took £63 million in pay — that to me is the unacceptable face of banking. He hasn’t earned that money, he’s taken £63 million not by building business or adding value or creating long-term economic strength, he has done so by deal-making and shuffling paper around." Lord Mandelson, British First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Times, Apr 3

Goldman, which reported a record profit for 2009, announced last week it would award CEO Lloyd Blankfein stock worth about $9 million. JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon is to receive a compensation package worth around $17 million.

"I know both those guys (Diamon and Blankfein). They're very savvy businessmen. And I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That's part of the free market system," Obama said. Reutters, Feb 14

Gordon Brown's government is on the right track with the greed crowd while President Obama just can get over them. Pathetic.


Michael Collins April 2, 2010 - 11:28pm
Michael Collins's diary | printer friendly version | digg
( categories: Globalization )

Snippy Welfare Queen

"We did not anticipate the anger or backlash the acceptance of TARP capital would evoke from the public, politicians and the media," Dimon said. "I do wish it was possible to distinguish between the healthy and unhealthy banks in a way that didn't damage the success of the program." Washington Post, Apr 2

Michael Collins April 2, 2010 - 11:36pm
login to post comments
"Never underestimate the

"Never underestimate the other man...'s greed."
--Scarface.

While I can't really fault the individuals for taking the money, I will say that compensation disparity is probably the symptom of deeper and more subtle problems with our economic and social structure.

NateTG April 3, 2010 - 9:10am
login to post comments
I agree.

That's the Harvard imprinting, I'm afraid. That self-congratulatory (because Obama knows he's one of the wealthy successful ones, of course), sheep mentality is partly why Harvard lost 1/3 of their endowment last year: If we are wealthy and successful we must be doing things right! That's a definition.

creativelcro April 3, 2010 - 11:45am
login to post comments
Wake up! Obama is pwned by GS

You aren't going to get Obama to reign in the investment bankers. He doesn't want to. He wants the investment bankers to support him, and he thinks they are the ones who will enable him to achieve his objectives in politics.

In other words, Goldman Sachs has pwned Obama.

No serious bank reform is possibke while Obama is President. Sorry to break the bad news, but that's how I see it.

yogi-one April 3, 2010 - 12:45pm
login to post comments
Expected behavior

This is what we'd expect, I agree. As Main Street and the EU turn on Wall Street, there's an outside chance that Obama may jump ship if the odds favor the challengers. But other than that circumstance, we're locked into a negative cycle. The Dodd bill shows that with Congress favoring "regulated" exchanges for derivatives rather than just dumping that worst of all ideas.

Michael Collins April 3, 2010 - 3:12pm
login to post comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.