It was a showdown to cherish for critics of Wall Street’s culture of enrichment. The grim-faced boss of the bankrupt bank Lehman Brothers was left squirming yesterday as a veteran Democrat roasted him over his multimillion-dollar pay. With the startled look of a man unaccustomed to sharp examination, Lehman chief executive Richard Fuld clashed bluntly with the chairman of the House oversight committee, Henry Waxman, on Capitol Hill.
“Your company is now bankrupt and our country is in a state of crisis,” said Waxman, a liberal from California. “You get to keep $480m. I have a very basic question: Is that fair?” After a long pause, Fuld said the figure was exaggerated: “The majority of my compensation, sir, came in stock. The vast majority of the stock I got I still owned at the point of our [bankruptcy] filing.”
Waxman cut him off, saying that even if the figure was slightly lower, it was “unimaginable” to much of the public. “Is that fair, for a CEO of a company that’s now bankrupt, to make that kind of money? It’s just unimaginable to so many people.”
“I would say to you the $500m number is not accurate,” said Fuld. “I’d say to you, although it’s still a large number, for the years you’re talking about here, my cash compensation was close to $60m, which you’ve indicated here, and I took out closer to $250m [in shares].”
Interrupting again, Waxman listed Fuld’s collection of property, including a $14m ocean-front villa in Florida and a home in an exclusive ski resort.
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I guess Paulson will hire Fuld to “help with the Bailout”, but Fuld will of course concentrate on HELPING HIMSELF TO THE 700 BILLION !!! The Foxes are in the Chicken Coup !!! Don’t expect the “Bailout” to work, they will come back for MORE AND MORE AND MORE, before it’s over !!!
Lehman Bros. is bankrupt, Fuld got his money and congress is busy blowing smoke up the taxpayer’s ass by putting on a dog and pony show.
“Is that fair, for a CEO of a company that’s now bankrupt, to make that kind of money? It’s just unimaginable to so many people.”
Welcome to life. There is no fairness guarantee included. I saw the “hearing”. I still don’t understand why Waxpaperman was concentrating on this as there wasn’t violations of the law alleged…
Maybe he voted for the biggest taxpayer fraud in history and needs some CYA before the Congressional elections?
Maybe I missed something but the story and the clip don’t seem to go together.
[Thus the “link” to the story – ed.]
Henry Waxman to Katie Couric: You received 15 million dollars each of the last three years, but your network is last in viewer ratings and all you do is read a screen with moving words. Is that fair?
There’s a million more of these examples. Feel free to add your own.
Here is the ONLY WAY to rein in CEO EXCESSES !!!
Proposed New Income Tax Rates:
Under $50,000 No Taxes
Under $100,00 5%
Under $250,00 10%
Under 500,000 25%
$1 Million and over 90%
$10 Million and over 99%
Include all compensation – cash, stocks, in-kind payments – now and deferred …
Move the TAX BURDEN WHERE THE MONEY IS !!!
Here is the ONLY WAY to rein in CEO EXCESSES !!!
Proposed New Income Tax Rates:
Under $50,000 No Taxes
Under $100,00 5%
Under $250,00 10%
Under 500,000 25%
$1 Million and over 90%
$10 Million and over 99%
Include all compensation – cash, stocks, in-kind payments – now and deferred …
Move the TAX BURDEN WHERE THE MONEY IS !!!
#5. When are people going to give up the “well she did it so I can too” defense. Thats is a childs argument. Like I give a Fuck about Katie Couric, and this adds absolutely nothing to the discussion. Couric is not the CEO of anything.
And that goes for the “it’s OK for sarah palin to be inexperienced, because well, look at Obama”.
Children.
Like I said, this guy better get some bodyguards…or leave the country…someone’s bound to off him…and soon.
#7 JimD
Sounds like the gimmick used to sell the American public on the Income Tax Amendment.
After that, the gov’t just created huge inflation to bump people up the brackets. Look at a graph of inflation 19th through the end of 20th century.
After income tax & bracket system introduced, it just soars on a fairly constant curve.
I guess some people don’t learn from history…
TJB
#8 “well she did it so I can too” was not my point at all.
Every industry, including media, has its own perception of success and worth. To most lay people, any person making over a million dollars a year in any industry is filthy rich but that does not begin to factor in a person’s window of opportunity to earn that high salary. (i.e. Couric) I have no problem with any law abiding citizen earning as much as they can for them and their family. I am troubled by the many commenters that portray income as something ‘taken’ from someone else or the government. We live in a free society that challenges everyone to do their best and achieve to your hearts desire. If everyone accepted that challenge we might avoid a lot of jealousy and regret that I hear people express every day.
That’s folding under fire? He looked pretty put together to me. The bailout is a horrible plan. We need to cut our losses, Americans need to learn to pay cash for what they buy, and hopefully we learn our lesson. If we are going to spend 700 billion I would rather see the people who took out more mortgage than they could handle keep their homes with some sort of settlement for them. That is, if we are going to spend this 700 billion dollars.
Where are the Code Pink people when you need them?
I was waiting for someone to jump over the rail and belt him a good one. That would have made me smile.
#12. That sounds fine, on an even playing field. But what you need to understand is that these guys sit on each others boards, they watch each others back. The system is rigged towards the wealthy CEO’s, they do not have any incentive to do well. The average Joe Six Pack (to use a nauseating term) doesnt have a chance to compete in this type of system. In a system this corrupt, people should swing. Wake up.
What a waste of time and money. Congress should be busy trying to understand and resolve this mess not GRANDSTANDING FOR POLITICAL BENEFIT. I wonder how many pages of the 500 page bailout bill the average congressperson read?
Total Bullshit.
Actually, watching both videos, it’s not clear what his compensation really was. A lot of his compensation was stock which he held to the bloody end and thus lost his shirt on. Not saying that a lot of these guys are not overpaid, just that a lot of this is grandstanding by congress and exaggeration by the press, looking for a villain.
He spoke well based on the video I saw. A lot of the comments in this forum are crap. This is a free economy and people should be free to make as much money as possible without undo taxation.
CEO’s pay is allowed to be exorbitant by the ShareHolders of those companies, based on the belief that they hold some special skill to deserve that amount of money. In some cases it is justified, others it clearly isn’t.
When a company is losing money, they ask the unions to volunarily cut wages, to roll back health care benefits, to allow more temporary workers.
When a company is losing money, they ask the government for free cash, then lavish benefits on executives as a reward for doing nothing useful.
To be fair I do not think waxman should have went back eight years. On the otherhand what he recieved in the last couple years is fair game. Most people that were awake in the last couple years knew this was coming.
Did you post the wrong video? I saw Fuld defend himself, I never saw him squirm. The Chair of the Committee even had to step in and halt the ineffective questioning of that guy.
Total puff piece making Fuld look way too good.
Dog and Pony Show.
Big Business pretends its remorseful.
Congress pretends its outraged.
President pretends he knew nothing about it.
Fed Chairman pretends everything is under control.
Taxpayer is screwed.