My son is taking Drivers Education at the local high school. As such, he was told to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and get a NJ Driver’s Handbook. My wife took him to two locations, and the only manuals available were in Spanish. At one location, after waiting in line for some time, he was told that he would have to download the manual off the internet.
I have one thought on this: Welcome to America, now SPEAK ENGLISH!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Congratulating Versus Condemning Goldman Sachs
I made the mistake of flipping to CNN just before bedtime last night, to hear the lunacy of Ohio congresswoman Marcy Kaptur rant about Wall St. pay, her ignorance enraging me. Not a good feeling just before bedtime! It seems that Goldman Sachs bashing is back on the front burner. Why should Goldman not pay its employees well for a banner year? I just don’t get it. What should they do with all the money they made? They have already paid back the government the money they really didn’t want in the first place, plus an incredible return. And of the $20 odd billion in bonuses, at least $6 billion will go to the government in the form of income tax. Shareholders are in good shape, and employees shouldn’t be robbed to enhance their returns.
What many people don’t realize is that many recipients of TARP funds did not want or even need the capital. Way back before Bear Stearns went under, when the Wall St. firms were being encouraged to borrow from the FED, firms like JP Morgan used the FED window as a sign of leadership. Otherwise, firms that really needed the funds wouldn’t take them because they were concerned it would be a sign of weakness, so the government encouraged EVERYONE to engage in these borrowings. Woe be it for the firms that took TARP funds and borrowed from the Fed, whether they have paid the money back yet or not, the government has conspired with the media to vilify these firms and change the rules on them. Regulating maximum compensation??? You have got to be kidding. Just how un-American is that!
I hear over and over again that “taxpayers money” is being used to pay outrageous bonuses with respect to Goldman Sachs. This is wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels. First think about what is ”taxpayer money” anyway. Where did those tax dollars come from in the first place? I would imagine that the average Goldman Sachs employee has paid more federal income tax in the last 2 years than the average American will pay in a lifetime. It is the wealthy that are paying the taxes in the first place. In 2006, the bottom half of earners only paid less than 3% of total taxes! The top 5% of earners pay a STAGGERING 60% of all taxes! So even if you so wrongly accept the argument that taxpayers money pay bonuses, well, the people that are getting the bonuses are the ones who paid the taxes anyway. Maybe they are just getting their own money back! In Goldman’s case, the most important issue is that Goldman Sachs is immensely profitable, and all TARP funds have already been repaid. It is that simple. There IS NO ARGUMENT for bashing Goldman’s compensation policy. And it is a DISGRACE for elected officials and members of the media to use their pulpits to suggest otherwise.
Firms like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are winners. Their employees should be rewarded as such! Congratulations, Goldman!
What many people don’t realize is that many recipients of TARP funds did not want or even need the capital. Way back before Bear Stearns went under, when the Wall St. firms were being encouraged to borrow from the FED, firms like JP Morgan used the FED window as a sign of leadership. Otherwise, firms that really needed the funds wouldn’t take them because they were concerned it would be a sign of weakness, so the government encouraged EVERYONE to engage in these borrowings. Woe be it for the firms that took TARP funds and borrowed from the Fed, whether they have paid the money back yet or not, the government has conspired with the media to vilify these firms and change the rules on them. Regulating maximum compensation??? You have got to be kidding. Just how un-American is that!
I hear over and over again that “taxpayers money” is being used to pay outrageous bonuses with respect to Goldman Sachs. This is wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels. First think about what is ”taxpayer money” anyway. Where did those tax dollars come from in the first place? I would imagine that the average Goldman Sachs employee has paid more federal income tax in the last 2 years than the average American will pay in a lifetime. It is the wealthy that are paying the taxes in the first place. In 2006, the bottom half of earners only paid less than 3% of total taxes! The top 5% of earners pay a STAGGERING 60% of all taxes! So even if you so wrongly accept the argument that taxpayers money pay bonuses, well, the people that are getting the bonuses are the ones who paid the taxes anyway. Maybe they are just getting their own money back! In Goldman’s case, the most important issue is that Goldman Sachs is immensely profitable, and all TARP funds have already been repaid. It is that simple. There IS NO ARGUMENT for bashing Goldman’s compensation policy. And it is a DISGRACE for elected officials and members of the media to use their pulpits to suggest otherwise.
Firms like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are winners. Their employees should be rewarded as such! Congratulations, Goldman!
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