Banking Profits & Executives Pay

Pale_Shadow

Forgive me if this has been discussed either here or elsewhere previously but I couldn't help my absolute disbelief at the Chief Exec of Lehman Bros Bank when he was being questioned by a Senate Sub Committee about his earnings. According to the guy asking the questions he had been paid 500,000,000 $. I am not sure over what period this was, and the Lehman Chief disputed the figure saying it was nearer 260,000,000 $ but does anyone else share my disbelief at figures such as these? Regardless of what theoretical profits any of these banks where making how on earth does anybody justify payments of this magnitude? How does anybody employing these people justify agreeing to these even if we were not in the financial meltdown caused by these actual executives? I would like to hear any insight anybody has and from anybody who doesn't share my incredulity at such outrageous figures.
Having said what I've said my main reason for posting was to ask you very clever people out there to share with me some facts about banking profits over the last few years. What have been the figures from Lehman's, Morgan Staney et al in the USA?
What have our large banks, now holding out the begging bowls, been declaring as profits in the last 5 years? What did all of the Chief Executives of these banks get paid during this time?
Does anyone else out there think, like me, that all of these overpaid executives should be made to repay any bonus they've earned in this period before expecting the rest of us to bail them out of this self inflicted mess?
Please feel free to criticise my opinions and flawed logic if that is what I'm displaying.Or my simplistic suggestions of punishing those that have had their "snouts" very firmly buried in the trough so much that they made the catastrosphic decisions we are now paying for.

Pale_Shadow

Is this in the wrong place or is there so little interest in this particular aspect of our current crisis?

1sttimer_2

Just read this post and it's unbelievable that this is happening. How can these people justify this handout! It's a crime that honest folk are going to help bail out these banks when the bosses have taken this money whilst losing ours.

icefall

Well according to this article - Huge bonuses for City high flyers will be hard to rein in... so I suspect its business as usual for these guys whilst the rest of us pay for their bonuses. :mad:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/10/executivesalaries-creditcrunch

Riq

The greeneyed monster called, he wants to know why you are impersonating him :rolleyes:

Pale_Shadow

So to have an opinion that criticizers such behaviour means you are suffering from green or red intolerance disorder??

icefall

Some Credit Crunch jokes here quite a few mention bankers...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078027/The-best-credit-crunch-jokes-laughing-way-bank.html?ITO=1490

and an article here - bailed out bankers secret £150k bash

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/article1815299.ece