Bailout Misappropriation?

[DHC]

Merrill Lynch is now under Bank of America. They have received moneys from the bailout plan. Millions upon millions are being thrown at recruiting senior FAs from entities like UBS at an increased draft rate to lure them away. What the fuck man! UBS for instance is not a US enitity, thus unable to compete with the sign up payouts that are being offered by Merrill Lynch. So all of the highest producing FAs are now being plucked away and I tell you that this pisses me off to no end. This is a recent trend that came to my knowledge and granted its feasible that its all legit, but how? Where is all this money coming from. I assume from sanctioned funds from this bailout plan, which could benefit us in the long run. BUT NOT LIKE THIS! Holy shit, is there no sense of decency...must everything be stringently policed? This is not how the taxpayer dollars should be used. The money is being squandered away and it is throroughly fucked up! I'm writing my congressman to demand this be investigated!! Motherfuckers!!

[theetruscan]

Banks we bailed out are paying 80 billion in bonuses this year, largely to the people responsible for global financial meltdown.

What you're describing is nothing (in my mind) compared to paying >10% of the bailout money to people whose malfeasance caused the bailout in the first place.

[Faust]

Yep, everyone wants a piece of the pie now. SEC and FBI better be hiring smart people. Heads must and will roll.

[DHC]

I totally hear you Jeff. That was more upsetting than anything. I still don't see it as nothing though. This is not a matter of cause and effect, but a deepening of the effect by virtue of the sordid handling of the "resolution" in play. This is not something that I feel we should grant a blind eye to, you know?

[DHC]

Yep, everyone wants a piece of the pie now. SEC and FBI better be hiring smart people.Heads must and will roll.

...and down the street they go. I seriously hope so Faust. All this talk needs to be backed up. All the culpable parties need to be held liable with direct repercussions for their actions.

[theetruscan]

I totally hear you Jeff. That was more upsetting than anything. I still don't see it as nothing though. This is not a matter of cause and effect, but a deepening of the effect by virtue of the sordid handling of the "resolution" in play. This is not something that I feel we should grant a blind eye to, you know?

I don't see it as nothing either, when considered alone. But, millions to hire away good people, compared to billions to payout bad, seems relatively inconsequential. Also, if the good people they are hiring could just be replacing everyone they've ever employed, well . . .

[DHC]

I wish I shared your optimistically forgiving spirit on the issue. I guess the thing that really irks me about the whole thing is that they've managed to double the sign on bonus "which is considerable", all else in the package not withstanding. I've been hearing some crazy numbers for cash bonus sign-ons and its a bit unsettling. Eh, maybe its because I got a huge bug up my butt this morning.

[theetruscan]

Nah, it's bullshit for sure. But, there's so much bullshit right now that the theft has to be particularly egregious for me to even react, much less get worked up. Boy, and to think 10 years ago, a blowjob was worth 2 years of outrage.

[DHC]

LMAO! No kidding! Nothing but a busted nut on the old road now, eh?
*pardon the pun...or not..who cares?*

[reborn]

I don't know if completely disagree or agree with the issues. Truthfully, it would take serious money to hire away FAs from jobs at other firms (especially if they are tenured). One of the main reasons, the person has to walk away from their existing benefits: vested retirement and pension funds, established healthcare, regular salary, etc. In many financial sectors, it is not uncommon to see a person hired away from one firm via signing bonus (to help compensate for the loss of benefits or lag-time till you become fully vested in the new system).

I don't think this is common practice in other industries, but part of being the financial sector is being more aware of these things...and likewise expecting appropriate compensation.

As for all of the other stuff, let'em burn. I'm still infuriated at seeing AIG and other financial execs walking away with millions in bonus money for failing. Bastards.

[DHC]

Truthfully, it would take serious money to hire away FAs from jobs at other firms (especially if they are tenured).

Exactly! I know of at least half a dozen senior FAs from UBS to be snatched up by Merrill Lynch in the last couple of weeks. And that's just from a single branch office!! To give you an idea of the money being thrown around, one of the FAs (not the highest producing of those mind you) received a $2,000,000.00 bonus. That's right, two million. WTF?!! What ML does with their money is fine with me, but taxpayer dollars to pull this off is sitting sour in my stomach.