I get my “bonuses” by shorting the giant zombie corporations we discuss every day here.

So, you’re saying AIG hasn’t been proved to be a chronic malefactor? Just because the public has turned its ire- in general- against AIG, it is not the public’s fault that they are unable to distinguish the individual bad guys who should bear the brunt of the vitriol.

Companies like AIG are only as good as their worst person…or at the very least, their worst person who has his hands on the leverage and a big position.

“NOTE: I am not arguing it is the case. I am positing that we have no fcuking clue and it is a joke that people are getting angry.

People are just pissed and want to vent. Anything that can be opportunistically turned for political benefit is fair game.”

Unless it is a documented seller concession- to be applied toward a buyer’s prepaids, points or closing costs- on a RESPA, it’s illegal.

MR. LENO: Now, are they going to put a basketball –- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

MR. OBAMA: No, no. I have been practicing all –-

MR. LENO: Really? Really?

MR. OBAMA: I bowled a 129.

MR. LENO: No, that’s very good. Yes. That’s very good, Mr. President.

MR. OBAMA: It’s like — it was like Special Olympics, or something.

skep-tic – yes, western CT house prices are going down, down, down. being from eastern CT I find it very gratifying. I do think they’re dropping a lot faster than NJ prices. there is a huge amount of inventory.

why does our buying our own Treasuries, make me think of my dog attempting to eat his own poop?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/us/politics/20obama.text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Now it’s just game over. Game over for the economy, for Wall St, for businesses that will never be able to operate properly with the govt and its tenacles everywhere.

How are we ever going to untangle out of this mess? Craziness.

Just a question on the 10 Red Bud, seems like it needed about 30k in repairs (including appliances, carpet, paint, etc.) The bank was putting 10k. The ask was 525k. My sense of a low-ball bid was 450k (rather very low since the ask for a neighboring house is about 660k). What would have been a good bid (not that I can or would want to go much beyond 450k for a house).

Also, does it make sense for someone mentally prepared for a 450k house to pay about 2.1% taxes on a home assessed at 620k? [taxes were 13.5k for Y2008]

S

S

Who told the truth in the bonus mess?

A: Timmy Geithner
B: Chris Dodd
C: Barack Obama
D: None of the above

WSJ
MARCH 20, 2009 Wall Street Shudders as Lawmakers Take Aim at Pay

By AARON LUCCHETTI and PETER LATTMAN
Finance executives scrambled Thursday to react to a bill that would gut the current Wall Street compensation system.

Many bank officials were caught off-guard by the depth of public ire against Wall Street bonuses, and the passage of a bill by the House that would tax many of those bonuses by 90% at firms that received at least $5 billion in federal bailout funds. No brokerage firms or banks were immediately willing to go on the record with a view on the measure.

A leading finance group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, was in consultation with a constitutional-law expert about the bill’s legality, according to a person familiar with the matter. But it, too, chose not to make a statement.

Many firms have already cut the bonuses of top executives, in part to mollify lawmakers demanding cuts in pay for companies that take government money. But the current bill would also severely restrict the pay of traders, bankers and possibly brokers who produce millions of dollars in revenue.

“This is about vengeance, not about saving money,” said Alan Johnson, a New York compensation consultant. “The American people are furious, and Congress is terrified they won’t get re-elected. But it’s a shame. The best people will leave and the American taxpayer will pay” because the bill would make the firms more “unstable.”

Banks have thousands of employees who make more than $250,000 per household, the level at which the tax would take effect, pay experts say.

If the bill becomes law, the flow of bankers and traders from U.S. banks to foreign firms, hedge funds and smaller boutique companies could accelerate, said people in the industry. The bill “creates an unfair advantage for any major player who is not subject” to the restrictions imposed on companies receiving federal funds, said Alan Guarino, a managing director at recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.

Still, the feeling at one major bank Thursday was that the legislation would get significantly watered down, making it applicable only to AIG, or, perhaps, firms that have received more government assistance than just the initial handouts made under the TARP program.

—Robin Sidel and Randall Smith contributed to this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20bonus.html?hp