From the senoir rep of a great state to a freshman - Get YOUR hands out of my pockets. Am sick to death of hearing about these GS execs being able to basically steal their way to wealth. It is outrageous and this is not the United States of Goldman Sachs, or is it?!

"It is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far - not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world - that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers. ... Their battle-cry must be: "The Permanent Revolution". -Trot.-
Where are the people??

So pumping a king's ransom into a bunch of losers and then making it impossible for them to compete for top talent is smart government? No wonder I wish health care reform would just die. The only answer here is to break them up and deal with the toxic assets that are still on the books.

Democratic Governor of corrupt NJ running for re-election, Jon Corzine was an executive a Goldman not too long ago. He left with a golden parachute worth more millions than you and I will ever see or fathom. President Obama will stump for him today and Bill Clinton already did as well as VP Joe Biden. Hmphhhhh????????????
Godman=Corrupt Governor=Democrat Party=President Obama's endorsement=Bailout $$$$$$


I wonder why a governorship is so important to the WH. It's not like the gov can vote for healthcare. Oh, the bailout of Goldman. Got it now,

Goldman is the U.S. government's puppet master.

All the good Obama has done is now reduced to setting the timer for the next collapse.

I don't care what GS pay themselves. What I care about and what every American and other investors should care about is the soundness and the integrity of the products they create and sell.
Without strict regulation of derivatives (amazingly, there still is none), our economy is sacrificed on the altar of greed to those at GS and other companies on Wall St. that only care about short term profits and immediate bonus gratification.
There should be NO INVESTMENTS - NONE - that are not completely transparent and completely government regulated. Until or unless that happens, we will have other trillion dollar busts that will take down our economy time and time again.
This isn't rocket science. This is arithmetic 101.

Our country's brightest and best no longer strive to "make things" they strive to shuffle paper for fortunes in a year it would take a lifetime to accumulate otherwise. A country that has driven its manufacturing base to the third world will soon find that paper shufflers historically have not ruled the world.

Goldman always seems to win. I understand there's outrage about pay and bonuses at banks, yet people still continue to do business with banks that treat them like crap. There are banks out there that have good customer service, don't cheat account holders with ridiculous fees, and pay their management more reasonably. True, they're a handful in comparison witht the majors, but they're still there. If you're outraged, drop your BofA, or your super-regional bank account and transfer it to one that has better service and treats its customers like human beings. Or if you're complacent or just don't care, keep your bank account at one of these major banks and keep getting screwed out of fee money and be kept on hold for hours while trying to talk with customer service, but don't pretend to be outraged. If the outrage really is there, these larger banks would drop so fast bc so many people moved their accounts to better banks.

Bush and Cheney "tight" with Halliburton,
Obama and Geithner "tight" with Goldman ?

Conservative or Liberal . . .
seems to be all about POWER and
the one party system . . . The "GREEN" Party.
So out of control.

If those banks that were bailed out are left in the lerch it's because of the result of their mismanagement and nothing else. The bailout wasn't meant for them to end up on top but to keep them from going under. We need to deter banks from making risky decisions that include, "we can always get a bailout". Well this is what happens when you do. Your competitors who were not bailed out are on top. I don't see that as a bad thing to keep those greedy idiots out of my pocket. It really adds insult to injury when you already get in the ass in bank fees but then have to turn around and bail the dipshits out. Can I charge an overdraft fee?

Hopefully this comp cap is just the first step. It's time to start squeezing Wall Street's balls. Hard. George Patton

Capping pay for Banks and ignoring Bank Holding Companies, is simply foolish, as one benefits and the other suffers. Instead of capping pay, write pay guidelines which must be adhered to by all Banking and Holding Companies equally. For those Banks and Holding Companies that profitted from the run on the US Treasury, impose H.R. 1586, a tax on those companies and individuals that received TARP funds. These folks kept the money for themselves, and invested not a dime in the US Economy, or lent to their customers.

If Government rules the land, then let Government rule. Creating exceptions, like Goldman Sachs, only exacerbates the problem by making one interest superior to the other and skewing the playing field further. This is not the outcome we should be looking to impose.

Goldman Saks is the US puppetmaster and the US government is the puppet.

All the good work Obama has done has been used by the banks to restart the timer for the next depression.

How pitiful. What short memories politicians have.

How about Dear Leader taking over UPS and FEDX in order to save THE UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, we could have a czar and everything!

The Dems have nothing to lose by attacking big Wall Street banks and insurance companies after they led is into this depression. In truth, they have never been more unpopular at any time since the 1930s, so any politician with half a brain should be going after them.

Isn't it obvious? This demonization of the most successful investment bank is nicely disguised anti-semitism. Don't deny it. That prominent name, the "puppetmaster" referred to above, is just another way to say the Jews control banks, money, the government, whatever. Truth is, this firm just out-smarted all the others, by dint of hard work and effort. You want to believe otherwise, you gor right ahead, But all this anti-Goldman stuff is nothing more than 21st century Jew-bashing. And you all know it.

I agree this is only part of the pay solution but ya gotta start somewhere. If I remember correctly Mr. Feinberg is not permitted to regulate outside the bounds of those institutions that still have TARP funds. As to top execs fleeing to GS or JPM. Let them go. I doubt very much whether those institutions will want all of them or will pay them similarly. I also bet these two institutions are hit in the next few months. When none of these guys showed for Obama's speech to the Street a few weeks back they made a big mistake. Problem is these execs live in a bubble more sound proof than a politician's. They simply do not understand the public anger and desire for retribution. All the body guards in the world will not save you from someone whose family is living under a bridge because of actions they believe your institution took.

To my mind the problem of bankers bonuses is the symptom and not the cause.

It's a red herring.

What people should concentrate on is where and how in the money cycle a bank is allowed to book a profit.

This is an accounting problem.

Lets have an article on how banks make the money that allows them to pay these obscene bonuses.

It practcally goes without saying that every time the government tries to regulate executive compensation it makes the situation worse. Remember the million dollar cap? In the present instance, the top executives who are having their compensation reduced are eligible to receive grants of restricted stock. This may well result in higher compensation when the restrictions lapse if the stock appreciates.

I watched the all stars part of Special Report on Fox News today. Charles Krauthammer surprised me, sort of, by saying it's entirely OK for the Federal government to control the pay scale for the big corporate welfare monarchs who are more-or-less owned by the American taxpayers. Just those, mind you.

I have to ask, if someone is annoyed at having the camel's nose in the tent, why should they be overjoyed to find the back end in there too? Why must the solution to government meddling always be more meddling?

Now we're really shooting ourselves in the foot. Most of the top paid people at the banks are the traders that actually make most of the profits for the bank. One trader, I forger his bank and name, made his employer $350 million last year, and had a contract that he keeps 30%, resulting in $100 mill being due. The pay czar forced them to sell the trading division rather than pay the bonus. If the traders can make 5-10 million across the street, why in the world would they work for 200K? Worse, without them, how are these firms supposed to make the profits necessary to repay the taxpayers? I understand Obama wants bankers to do less speculation and think long term, but speculation is how they pay for operations. Last, the government is getting 5% dividends AND capital appreciation. All the shareholders (401Ks and retired people) are getting NO INCOME. I don't think it's fair to BoA at all. They were perfectly healthy until the treasury and Fed forced them to buy Merrill to prevent a further panic. Now they're treated like criminals while all those moronic SEC regulators are still working.

Please read the statute before you complain about Feinberg. His authority is very limited in scope, duration, and (literally) options (he is not allowed to give stock options). Much of what you complain about here is due to the authority he was and was not given under the law.