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| 'Your company is bankrupt, you keep $480m. Is that fair?' |
| 2008-10-07 |
| 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. Called on to explain why Lehman collapsed last month, Fuld began with a note of humility, saying he felt "horrible" over the demise of the 158-year-old institution. "I want to be very clear," Fuld said. "I take full responsibility for the decisions I made and for the actions I took." |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #11 I thought Ken Lay had donated a lot of money to the Clintoons? |
| Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti 2008-10-07 22:46 |
| #10 Question --- why and how are these guys different from Ken Lay and all those Enron guys that went to jail? Oh never mind -- they were Repubs and had raised money for Bush. Silly me, I knew that. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2008-10-07 19:31 |
| #9 demagoguery intended to deflect public anger onto CEOs when it should rest squarely on the Congressional officials The current crisis has many causes. CEOs like Fuld richly deserve exposure to the public anger "acted out" at the hearing. The Congress deserves to be completely replaced in the coming election. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-10-07 12:20 |
| #8 Bloomberg: Lehman spread its largess widely, almost impartially: "Since 1989, Lehman employees have given $9.2 million to federal candidates and their parties, with 54 percent of that going to Democrats. In the current Congress, 271 lawmakers have collected a total of $3 million. Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, top the list of all-time recipients, collecting $410,000 and $395,600 respectively, the Center for Responsive Politics reported. The only companies to donate more to presidential candidates so far this election cycle were Goldman, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, according to the center, a non-partisan government watchdog group." |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-10-07 12:05 |
| #7 Basically his answer was, "Yes, it is fair". Now how can you argue with greed that is that profound? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-10-07 12:01 |
| #6 I might fall from a tall building, I might roll a brand new car. 'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that made |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-10-07 10:26 |
| #5 It's like a captain who abandons the ship with the few lifeboats while leaving the rest of the crew to sink. I hope they find some charge that sticks before he blows all his money. |
| Posted by: Harry Whamp1091 2008-10-07 10:18 |
| #4 The Dems attack on Fuld is deeply dishonest, as Waxman knows. It is demagoguery intended to deflect public anger onto CEOs when it should rest squarely on the Congressional officials who set in place many of the incentives against which the CEOs functioned. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-10-07 10:14 |
| #3 Why does congress continually go after CEO's and their pay packages like they were the ones who decided what their pay was going to be. Speaking for myself, if somebody wanted to moneywhip me into going to work for them I'd probably do it and I would sleep very well at night. |
| Posted by: Clique Forkbeard2541 2008-10-07 10:03 |
| #2 Opensecrets.org FULD, RICHARD NEW YORK,NY 10285 LEHMAN BROTHERS/MANAGING DIRECTOR 4/9/07 $10,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D) How about checking the differential while you're under there Mr. Fuld. Heh. I'm sure in the background of the hearings was heard - "We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!" |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-10-07 09:48 |
| #1 I hear that on the day they folded, one of the Lehman employees found Fuld in the Lehman gym and sucker punched him. This is a guy who should have never been given the reins of that company and shows the weakness in our governance process of how we vet these jerks. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-10-07 09:43 |