too-big-to-fail

Big Bankers Will Only Pay Themselves $40 Billion In Bonuses

By Marc Perton on January 25, 2010 2:07 PM 0 views

(Photo: nicora)

Three top Wall Street financial firms, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, plan to cut the bonuses offered to their top executives, as part of an effort to show that they're willing to cut back on what the White House recently called "obscene" compensation. For 2009, the three banks will award themselves just $39.9 billion, down from $44.7 billion in 2007.

According to Bloomberg, "even with lower amounts allocated in the fourth quarter, the compensation costs are enough to pay each employee at the three firms $336,843, more than six times the U.S. median household income of $50,303 in 2008." More »

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Why Bank of America's TARP Payback Is Bad News

By Marc Perton on December 10, 2009 11:05 AM 9640 views

(Photo: roemerman

So, Bank of America is writing a big, fat, $45 billion check to the U.S. to pay back the money we handed the bank under the TARP program. Great news, right? Not so fast. Wall Street bad boy Henry Blodget points out that BofA is paying the money back while taking out ultra-low-interest loans from the government -- loans that don't come with any of the restrictions bundled with TARP funds. More »

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Citibank Teaches Us How To Destroy A $244 Billion Banking Institution

By Meg Marco on November 24, 2008 1:25 PM 10343 views

Only two short years ago, Citibank was worth $244 billion. Now, after its stock lost half of its value in just the past week, the bank is estimated to be worth $20.5 billion. What happened? The New York Times attempted to answer that question Saturday, and it pointed the finger at the usual suspects -- conflicts of interest between those who were supposed to manage risk -- and those who stood to benefit from making risky bets.   More »

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"Crazy" Jim Cramer Takes This Opportunity To Gloat

By Meg Marco on September 16, 2008 10:53 PM 19329 views

About a year ago, CNBC's Jim Cramer completely lost his sh*t on CNBC, screaming at Bernanke to lower interest rates before millions of borrowers went into foreclosure. Now, as the "Armageddon" that he was carrying on about is in full swing, Cramer is taking this opportunity to gloat.   More »

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Bush Administration Considering A Takeover Of Freddie And Fanny

By Meg Marco on July 11, 2008 4:05 PM 4518 views

Freddie and Fanny lost about half of their value overnight as investors became more certain that the government was going to have to bail out the two GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises.) The New York Times says that senior members of the Bush administration are considering a takeover of Freddie and Fannie that would leave their shares "worth little or nothing," and where taxpayers would pay "any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee."  More »

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Mortgages Of The Apocalypse: Are Freddie And Fannie Going To Collapse?

By Meg Marco on July 10, 2008 5:05 PM 9445 views

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the "government sponsored" enterprises that are supposed to bail us out of the current mortgage crisis, may be in danger of collapsing, according to William Poole, the former president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, who told Bloomberg the companies are already "insolvent."  More »

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