Wall Street Compensation Sets Another Record at $135 billion (9+ miles of $1,000 bills)

Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel and Tower is 358' Tall

Stack of $1,000 bills to the Very Top of this Building equals $1 bil

Wall Street Compensation in 2010 is 135 of these buildings

The Wall Street Journal
By Aaron Lucchetti and
Stephen Grocer
2/2/2011

When it comes to paychecks, Wall Street's law of gravity is back in full force: What goes down must come back up.

In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of $135 billion, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. The total is up 5.7% from $128 billion in combined compensation and benefits by the same companies in 2009.

The increase was fueled by a revenue rebound as the financial crisis recedes in the rearview mirror. At 25 large financial firms that have reported full-year results, revenue rose to $417 billion, another all-time high, even though last year's 1% increase was just a fraction of the industry's revenue jolt from 2008 to 2009 as trading and investment banking sprang back to life.

"Things are shifting back to where they were before," said J. Robert Brown, a law professor at the University of Denver who studies compensation and corporate-governance issues.

Buried in the numbers, though, are signs of how Wall Street's pay culture is bending in response to pressure from regulators and shareholders. Last year, deferred compensation made up as much as half of total pay, up from about a third previously, estimates Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates Inc., a New York pay consultant.

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan got a 67% bump in his total compensation for 2010, the company said Monday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. tripled the salary of Chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and increased his stock-based bonus 40% to $12.6 million. Rest of $135 Billion Record Compensation

Huffington Post Also Weighs In

Wall Street pay is rising, while income for normal Americans has stagnated.

Even as the real economy limped, financial firms paid employees a record sum last year, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2009, the last full year data are available, average wages for Americans fell 1.5 percent from the previous year, according to the National Average Wage Index. Median household income in 2009 was "not statistically different" from 2008, according to the Census Bureau.

But total pay at Wall Street firms rose 5.7 percent in 2010, as the 25 companies that have already reported results shelled out a record $135 billion. Even as regulators pressured firms to alter compensation, prominent executives got big pay bumps, seeming to suggest that the former Wall Street culture has emerged virtually unscathed from the recession.

Grandpa would be Remiss Without Affording Tim Geithner

Recognition and Accolades for His Contributions

to those Hard Working Folks on Wall Street

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tackles five Myths about TARP: 1) cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, 2) was a gift for Wall Street that did nothing for Main Street, 3) left our financial system in weakened condition, 4) increased concentration in the financial system, and 5) served as the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s strategy to control the economy.

Geithner Calendar...hey Tim, Mr. Blankfein is here to see you....again (Huffington Post)

Great Job Shahien!

...Mr. Geithner, thanks for waiting...Mr. Blankfein will see you now...

Shahien Nasiripour
Huffington Post
9/14/10

When it comes to spending time with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the head of Goldman Sachs may have an easier time getting a meeting than either the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein has shown up on Geithner's calendar at least 38 times through March since the Treasury Secretary took office in January 2009, three more entries than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 13 more than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a copy of Geithner's daily log recently published online by the Treasury Department.

All told, Geithner met with, spoke to, or attempted to secure conversations with Wall Street chieftains at least 49 times during the five-month period ending in March 2010, a slight increase from the 37 entries on his calendar during the previous five-month period.

But it's still far below his first five months in office, when Geithner met with chief executives from firms like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock at least 76 times -- more calendar entries than for the heads of the regional Federal Reserve banks, who are the top overseers of systemically-important banks like JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo -- or for top members of Congress like Reid, Pelosi, their Republican counterparts, and the heads of the Senate and House committees overseeing financial institutions and economic policy.

A Huffington Post review of Geithner's calendar shows how personally involved he was in Congressional efforts to re-regulate the financial system; how Christina Romer, the former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, slowly faded from the Treasury Secretary's daily log; how Republicans may have a case when they gripe about not being consulted on economic policy; the continuing involvement of former Treasury Secretary and Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin; the revolving door of access shown to former Fed chairman Paul Volcker; and how President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers, was in close contact during the early months of Geithner's tenure but then faded behind White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as the administration geared up for the pending political battle over financial reform.

The calendar entries show calls made and received -- both completed calls and attempts -- as well as face-to-face meetings in the Treasury Department and elsewhere. However, it doesn't show calls Geithner may have made from home or on his way home, or meetings he may have had on the fly while in the White House or on Capitol Hill. It's not totally complete, but it's as close to complete as available. Complete article

FCIC Hearing…The Circus was in town

Some memorable quotes from the alleged brightest gangsters on Wall Street during yesterday’s testimony:

Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs):
When asked about selling securities with subprime mortgages and then shorting the same instruments, Blankfein responded: “Practice was improper and that we regret the consequence that people may have lost money”.
I can't stand here and tell you what would have happened . . . but we were going to bed every night with more risk than any responsible manager should want to have either for your business or for the system as a whole".

Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan):
“Somehow we just missed the fact that home prices don’t go up forever…”
“We did make mistakes and there were things we could have done better”.

Brian Moynihan (Bank of America):
“We understand the anger felt by many citizens; we are grateful for the taxpayer assistance we have received”. “The vast majority of our employees played no role I the economic crisis and do not deserve to be penalized with lower compensation”.


John Mack (Morgan Stanley):
“We did eat our own cooking and we choked on it”.


While viewing the hearings yesterday, I was left with a peculiar Déjà vu sensation.