Wall Street's Bailout Hustle

jefftheshark · February 21st, 2010, 01:40 PM

A new gem from Taibbi (from Rolling Stone).

On January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis.

The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses — meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly commensurate with what they received during the bubble years. Still, the troops were worried: There were rumors that Dr. Ballsachs, bowing to political pressure, might be forced to scale the number back. After all, the country was broke, 14.8 million Americans were stranded on the unemployment line, and Barack Obama and the Democrats were trying to recover the populist high ground after their bitch-whipping in Massachusetts by calling for a "bailout tax" on banks. Maybe this wasn't the right time for Goldman to be throwing its annual Roman bonus orgy.

Link

JTS

conraddobler · February 21st, 2010, 03:10 PM

Everytime I see Lloyd Blankfein in type my brain translates it into Lord Bankfiend.

There must be something wrong with me.

Linderbee · February 22nd, 2010, 03:49 PM

Or something very right with you; all a matter of perspective.

Mulli · February 23rd, 2010, 10:08 AM

So this is how trickle down economics works right?

Rivercard · February 23rd, 2010, 01:08 PM

Great article.