Following the money: Nuttin has changed
on July 27th, 2009 at 6:16 amThe following excerpts are from propublica.org~
The near collapse of the financial system and the massive government bailout [1] were just bumps in the road for Wall Street, it turns out, and notwithstanding public ire, the big banks are on pace this year to pay their employees at pre-crisis levels, The Washington Post reports [2].
“So far this year,” the Post reports, “the top six U.S. banks have set aside $74 billion to pay their employees, up from $60 billion in the corresponding period last year.” The standout is Goldman Sachs, which returned its $10 billion in bailout funds last month. It’s on pace to pay its employees an average “of about $773,000, more than double the figure last year and even exceeding the $700,000 paid in 2007.”
And this…
We’ve had plenty of examples over the past nine months showing that the banking industry hasn’t stopped lobbying just because it’s received billions in government bailout money. Right now, the industry is warring against the Obama administration’s proposal for a consumer protection agency for financial products. The disclosure forms just out for the second quarter of this year show how much bailed-out firms spent lobbying Congress.
The Hill reports that eight large banks that first received bailout funds back in October spent a total of “more than $12.4 million in the first half of 2009” on lobbying, slightly more than they spent in the first half of 2008.
And lastly, here is a quote from a website I came across on Sunday.
“When are you people going to realize that there is no republican party and no democrat party. There is only the Washington DC party.”
