Go Suzy!

Tonight on CNN Anderson Cooper asked Suzy Orman what she thought of the payouts given to Wall Street bankers and she said – They should pay  the money back .

The 8 CEO’s who testified before Congress today paid themselves aproximately 191 million dollars in bonus money in 2007.

Confiscate the bonus…

Merrill Lynch Makes 696 Millionaires Before Bailout and Merger

Watchdog blasts Merrill bonuses

Merrill doled out ‘gigantic’ bonuses despite heavy losses, says Cuomo

By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: February 11, 2009: 11:50 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Merrill Lynch “secretly” doled out huge bonuses before reporting a huge quarterly loss and getting absorbed by Bank of America, according to New York state’s attorney general. Full Story

Read related post:  Jody’s Wall Street Plan – Confiscate Bonuses, Cap CEO Compensation & Fire Top Executives

Related Story: Bankers go before Congress

Kenneth Lewis, Bank of America CEO: You’re Fired

After taking 45 BILLION in bailout money from American taxpayers, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis paid out approximately 10 million for a 5-day sponsored event outside the Super Bowl.

While glutting our taxpayer dollars, Bank of America dished out cash for 850,000 square feet of interactive entertainment space where they featured items with their logo and solicited consumers to sign up for banking products. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America claims that being the “Official Bank of the NFL” helps generate revenue and is part of the company’s “growth strategy.”

I’ve stated in the  previous blog post titled Jody’s Plan for Wall Street that I thought these CEO’s should be fired, in that post I listed my reasons. Seems Washington based consumer group Public Citizen agrees as part of a new movement called “Operation Accountability,” Public Citizen in asking American consumers to send Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis a pink slip.

To add your name to the list ———–> Kenneth Lewis’ Pink Slip

Jody’s Wall Street Plan – Confiscate Bonuses, Cap CEO Compensation & Fire Top Executives

Update:  Wed., February 04, 2009

Obama Limits Bailed-out Bank CEO Pay To $500,000 

Veiw Obama Press Conference

I fell asleep with my television on last night and woke up to CNN reporting on Claire McCaskill calling for a $400,000.00 compensation cap on bailout recipient pay. I was hardly inspired, in fact I was so irritated that I couldn’t go back to sleep.  Instead I made coffee and I drafted my own dreamy, dream world plan for Wall Street.

First, these are the people who made bad decisions, gave themselves obscene bonuses despite devastatingly poor performance, laid off everyone around them and then handed the American taxpayers the tab. Now it seems that Washington is coming up with ideas and plans to make sure these individuals behave more responsibly in the future.

My question is: Why do they still have jobs?  They made very bad decisions in the recent  past, why legislate against willfully negligent, irresponsible, treasonous behavior when they should have been fired and then  figuratively tared and feathered?

Since Americans are hellbent on spouting the virtues of capitalism then technically bailouts don’t exist, the death of a corporation is a cleansing act, the good filtered from the bad. Obviously, we can only tolerate capitalism when the greenbacks are flowing but when it comes to the harsh reality of being a capitalist it appears we don’t have the stomach to pull the trigger…so we’re really only situational capitalists.

If we don’t have the stomach to let them tank as part of a natural capitalistic process then at the very least we should have the good sense to filter the crap from the pool by firing the top executives. Then  legislate against negligence, irresponsibility and idiocy without worrying about controlling specific idiots…idiots who have already demonstrated their unabashed willingness to defecate all over the American people. After that cap, not just pay but ALL compensation,  confiscate the bonuses and call their conduct what it is: TREASON…even better HIGH TREASON!

Definition High Treason: Criminal disloyalty to one’s country.

Definition Treason : Oran’s Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: “…[a]…citizen’s actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation].”

Traitor: a person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their own nation, family, friends, ethnic group, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong.

Huffington Post: Claire McCaskill on compensation cap

The Hill: Senate Banking Chairman, Confiscate Bonuses

John Thain