If these companies have profited enough to pay bonuses, exactly how did they get a tax dollar funded “bailout”? Or did employees of companies that have received part of the bailout goodies actually get bonuses? Both parties in this grift are being exceedingly dodgy about saying exactly who has been given any of this money.

My! One of us is showing his age this AM!

SNORT!! It takes one to know one! I’ll be leaving for the gym in a couple hours…

That employee’s wages are not on the profit side of the equation.

That’s why I have a definition that says to gain materially in circumstances. I trade my time for money. If I didn’t think this advantageous I would not do it, neither would you. My company feels they are getting more out of me than they pay or they would fire me and hire someone else. We both profit (gain in material circumstance from this arrangement IE profit.

Way to avoid the question though.

What an idiotic post. Reaching for something, anything to criticize about Obama.

Wealth-worshipping toady.

What part of “uphold and defend the Constitution” involves putting on a green eye shade and scrutinizing the expenses of companies doing business legally in the US?

The more Obama tries to micromanage every company in the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth, the more likely he is to encounter the unintended consequences that meddling brings.

A lot of the “bonuses” are the result of threats by government to cap (or tax) high salaries, which resulted is a shift of compensation from “salary” to “bonuses” and such. Threaten to penalize any activity and the consequences may not be exactly what you’d hoped for!

That’s why wealthy politicians like Kerry, Kennedy et al. are in favor of higher “income” taxes. They have teams of highly paid attorneys and accountants to make sure that the bulk of their income falls outside whatever tax laws they’ve passed!

If these executives are employed by companies that are getting loans or bailouts from the taxpayer and they are still in a unprofitable state, I think that paying huge is entirely inappropriate. That said however, who does Obama or any other politician think they are to decide what any private citizen or corporation should receive in compensation? If these companies are turning a profit, even with subsidies from the government, this form of compensation is how you keep the talent from jumping ship. The market determines a person’s value within the market, not the government. When government begins dictating to the private sector what they can and cannot pay we are one step closer to socialism.

A more appropriate factor to consider is why we continue to fund congress-critters who have through their irresponsibility gotten us into this mess. Let’s cut all of their salaries and perks until the economy turns around. I for one am outraged that these incompetent boobs who couldn’t hold a private sector job get paid better and have better benefits than 90% of the public that supports them.

Private sector is what it says private but when government takes over there is no private sector , loans are one thing but give away’s are not cool. the money that has been given away no one knows where it went so yes we can criticize the government, if Obama happens to be the head of it he will be also. We are headed toward Marshall law and if that happens look out, the out come will not be good . 20,000 troops stand by to lock us down if the need arises .

Amateur hour at the White House is an understatement! Barry’s next book title, “How to Bring a Super Power to It’s Knees in Four Weeks of Less.” I think it will be a best seller….in Cuba, China, Russia….You get the drift. Memo to Barry, this is not Milton Bradley’s “The Game of Life,” this is the real deal.

If the Wall Street executives in question have a legally binding contract for employment which specifies the circumstances and performance criteria for the payment of bonuses, then by what legal authority would this president abrogate the terms of that contract?

Hey it was fun giving all those home loans to ignorant people who had no prayer of paying it back, everyone knows house values will climb to infinity, they can sell at a profit …… Everybody has a right to a house.

It’s really hard to talk sense into a post turtle that is happily sunning himself, to death.

And know the liberal solution to it all is — Honey, we maxed out our credit cards, but the good news is we have another one that just came in the mail, so we’ll be fine.

As long as their profits are from honest, legal business activity, then they should make as much as they want without Obamarxist making a peep. Isn’t he going to tax the hell out of those mean ol’ profit makers anyway? You think he’d be rubbing his little paws together with glee.

Some people have a steady pay schedule that is based in much part on bonuses for performance or for making budget, etc. Tell their mortgage companies that Obama just outlawed their next payment.

The figure was down 44 per cent from 2007

For a lot of companies like this, the base salaries are a pittance and the bonuses make up a large portion of the salary. If your pay in 2007 was $100k with a $200k bonus, then you got a 30% pay cut in 2008 [(300-(100+(200*(1-.44))))/300=.293]. These guys took a 30% pay cut and Obama wants to criticize them for it.

At least the financial sector has the ability to cut pay based on performance. GM has to keep paying no matter what.

The annual bonus can easily be 90 percent of the average investment banker’s or bond trader’s total annual income. An investment banking analyst right out of college will make about $65,000 salary, plus a $35,000 bonus, while an associate just out of business school might make $85,000 in salary and $115,000 in bonus. At the other end of the career ladder is Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs, who made $20.1 million in 2003 — only $600,000 of which was salary. That same year, E. Stanley O’Neal, chief executive of Merrill Lynch, made $500,000 in salary, but received a bonus of $13.5 million.

If you learn more about Wall street bonuses, it becomes evident that most cuts come from the top.

Unbelievable, a president that is proposing huge amounts of federal monies to be distributed to various companies doesn’t seem to realize that this money is effectively extraordinary income i.e. profit. I think you’re right, proof, this is not about profits but government control of business which we can expect in ever increasing doses during the Obama reign.

Bonuses are typically tied to profits…

Wrong! Bonuses are contractual, in most cases. You have them confused with “dividends”, which are actually tied to profits.

This is just more Marxist class envy bullshit from the Kenyan Marxist.

If the Wall Street executives in question have a legally binding contract for employment which specifies the circumstances and performance criteria for the payment of bonuses, then by what legal authority would this president abrogate the terms of that contract?

Bat One on January 30, 2009 at 07:50 am

The Wall Street executives in question did not have a legally binding contract for employment which specifies they can ran a company aground and still get payed.
If they did then criminal investigations for fraud should have started yesterday.
If they accepted taxpayer money, because through their ineptitude they ran the companies that employed them aground, then every stake holder has a right to demand abrogation of the terms of their contract.

The One just needs to declare that heating and air conditioning are “bonuses” and thus bad for the economy. No one who accepts money or benefits from the government is to have a bonus this year. This is not the time for bonuses!

Nonsense! They’re just gonna throw another $100 billion or so into the economic stimulus and recovery plan to subsidize everyone’s heating bill. Then they’ll put a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas companies to recover the money spent on the heating subsidy. Obama and the Democrats are so-o-o ignorant!

Where they lost money was on the investment side. One division. That means they bought up securities that tanked.

That doesn’t mean an executive say in the business lending department that made money shouldn’t get his bonus for what he brought in.

In fact the business needs to keep that side motivated to help them out of the hole they are in.

That employee’s wages are not on the profit side of the equation.

No, but there is a near-direct correlation between the two. Two sides of a typical equation have to be equal.

The Wall Street executives in question did not have a legally binding contract for employment which specifies they can ran a company aground and still get payed.

And how would you know that? Please include a link to the contracts.

If they did then criminal investigations for fraud should have started yesterday.

You don’t know shit about this do you? Look up the definition of fraud.

If they accepted taxpayer money, because through their ineptitude they ran the companies that employed them aground, then every stake holder has a right to demand abrogation of the terms of their contract.

No, the government was stupid to get involved. If the employees have contracts with their company why is it their fault that the government was dumb enough to provide capital to the company? Bankruptcy may allow for abrogation of contracts, but additional funding from a new investor is not an exceptional enough event to qualify.

Only government is allowed to spend irresponsiby the money they got from taxpayers.

Any “contract” that provides an $18.4 bonus funded out of taxpayer money while losing $38 billion is not enforceable. It’s prima facie the act of a bunch of selfish fools whose greed and disregard for the tax payer has been again revealed and soon will be legally constrained by tight regulation.

More history revision and denial.

NOW IS THE TIME PROPHETS:

I am he- my message
1. respect all peoples ways-however, declare Christ the king, let all the children know the spirit to seek in unison
2.Speak English officially in all governments-let all the children speak to one another in unison
3. ww2 was Armageddon-the pinnacle of mans arrogance to god and man-signified with two atomic bombs-let all know not even such can destroy the human spirit of god

The time has come- i bring a gift- solution to the energy crisis with no greenhouse gases

22 months on net after experiment on april 2007 and yet a single university does not repeat for verification-no wonder there are so many problems- you are all weak and abusive to one another- soldier on to utopia- our children scream for it- we are infinite

I am the messiah
solomon azar
time will tell- hopefully before another global meltdown by your ignorance still not to help- email princeton university or similar-get your head out your asses-

likwidshoe
I stick with my premise that the gomt is corrupt, the system needs a major revamp based on balance and fairness in the economy, healthcare, and politics. Both parties are corrupt.

The conservative (less tax, less regulation, trickle down) economic doctrine has dominated, even under Clinton, for the past 26 years. It has failed.

Greed and envy rule our financial system, the middle class is shrinking, poverty is rising while the wealthy class gets richer. It is time for balance to return. Right now the Dems offer to at least move us in a better direction, if not to long term reform.

One indicator: The wealthiest 400 families control more wealth than the entire lower 50%.

Another indicator: The Wall Street oligarchy/plutocracy taking their bonus grab from taxpayers while their companies lost $38 billion.

My company has around 7500 workers, we have grown by 93% in the past year. Without profit, all of us would out of a job.

You clearly do not understand what profit is.

Profit=Total income minus expenditures and taxes
Profit=the excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses)
Profit=make a profit; to gain money or to gain materially in circumstances

My company is in business. We manufacture, market and sell said product. We make a profit. This profit is shared to employees through a bonus program, a pension plan and a 401K plan. I profit from my employment. I am able to buy a house, food for my kids, save money, buy big screen TVs and the like. There are 7500 people in five states that work at our various plants that also profit from this arrangement. My company does source some of our components. We have 57 vendors in the US alone. The employees and shareholders of these business profit from our association. We are number 1 in market share for most of our products and have around 25000 mom and pop dealers that sell our product. They profit when they sell our product. Every major big box retailer sells our product. They make a profit when they sell our product. We have 22000 service dealers that work on and sell replacement parts for our business. So by my account at least 7500+25000+22000+I don’t know how many people at the big box>54,000 people depend on my company for at least some of their income (and we have done this with no government bailout money I might add). They profit from our relationship and we profit from that relationship. That profit comes in many forms, profit margin through sales, profit by association (on our side) with a group of indepenant dealers that are loyal to our product, profit (on their side) with a good brand name and a company that supports them before and after the sale. What part of profit did I miss?

Nice job spinning out of your previous comment.

I didn’t spin anything, that definition was included before I laid out my particulars. That you didn’t pay attention and then got caught does not mean I am spinning anything.

Fair enough, Bob! Thanks for debating in good faith.

Exactly why are people who have bankrupted companies getting bonuses?

Clearly, reality-based boob is economically illiterate.

He is no different than our current empty suit that is occupying the white house.

boob: You make cabinets. Are you ready to give up your profit for the Obama administration?

“There will be time for them to make profits, and ………. Now is not that time.”

Joe the Plumber???

You out there listening to this??

..redistribute that Wealth ‘Bama !!!

SERIOUSLY is this nutcase of a POTUS channeling Huey Long or what?

That employee’s wages are not on the profit side of the equation.

Dino:

What an idiotic post. Reaching for something, anything to criticize about Obama.

Wealth-worshipping toady.

Thankfully to us, Obama doesn’t make us read farther than the nearest headling.

Freedom-hating toad.

Obviously, the corporate execs who are taking taxpayer money and then handing out bonuses to themselves and their cronies are total schmucks. But to hear the President refer to profits as if it were a nasty thing is just plain ridiculous.

We all live to profit in various ways. We need more profit not less.

The only place we want less “profit” is government because that comes at the expense of real profit.