Thursday 9 October 2008

But I lost $134M - that makes me one of the good guys (non-quote from Richard S Fuld Jnr)

As I sit here with my trews getting a bit threadbare around the rear, wondering where my next crust is coming from and worried about the flow-on effect from that Yankee bovine madness rampaging on Wall Street, I think it is hilarious that Richie Rich Fuld appeared before the US Congress and tried to present himself as one of the losers in the Lehman Brothers collapse.

Congress saw it differently.

ABC News from America last Monday:
"In the first Congressional hearing into the financial crisis, the former CEO of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld, became the poster boy for Wall Street greed today as he defended the $484 million he received in salary, bonuses and stock options since 2000.
"Is that fair?" asked committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) who pointed out Fuld owns a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, an ocean front estate on Jupiter Island, Florida, a ski chalet in Idaho and a Manhattan apartment.
"If you haven't discovered your role, you're the villain today," said Rep. John Mica (R-FL)."

But don't just think that Lehman wages and salaries were unrealistic at the top - take a keek at this two month long summer analyst job for a bi-weekly base salary of $55,000.
But don't have a heart attack just yet.
This appears to be a very badly-worded offer of employment and no lowly analyst was being offered tens of thousands per month.
Just another sloppy piece of work from a very sloppy Lehman Brothers.

According to the Business and Media Institute, at least one other Lehman's executive type tried to pass on their portion of the blame in what appears to have been an it's 'all the boss's fault' knockout:
"While former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was testifying before the House Oversight Committee Oct. 6, CNBC reported he had been punched in the face at the Lehman Brothers gym after it was announced the firm was going bankrupt."

1 comment:

WeThePeopleOfTheUnitedStates said...

This ties into the wall street crooks. I was looking at the pre-foreclosures on http://www.buymyhousebeforethebanktakesit.com and tried to tie our current events into historic events. I came across these famous old quotes;

This (Federal Reserve) Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the president signs this bill, the invisible government by the monetary power will be legalized. The people may not know it immediately but the day of reckoning is only a few years removed, the worst legislative crime of the ages perpetrated by this banking bill." - Charles A. Lindbergh, R-MN

"We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are U.S. government institutions. They are private credit monopolies; domestic swindlers, rich and predatory money lenders which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. The Federal Reserve banks are the agents of the foreign central banks. The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States by the arrogant credit monopoly which operates the Federal Reserve Board.” - Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, addressed the House on June 10, 1932. 75 Congressional Record 12595-12603

“Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When through the process of law the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance. It is thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished." - 1924 US Banker’s Association Magazine