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Waste of the Day: Bank CEOs Earned Millions Before Government Bailout. Federal Reserve NIFO

Posted by freedomforall 3 days, 1 hour ago to Politics
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Excerpt:
"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was forced to spend $31.6 billion to protect customers at three failed banks in early 2023. While taxpayers footed the bill, the CEOs of the three banks made out nicely, each collecting millions in compensation right before their banks folded, according to a Feb. 20 report from the Government Accountability Office.
...
“You were paying out bonuses until literally hours before regulators seized your assets,” Sen. Sherrod Brown told Becker during a 2023 Congressional hearing. “Workers face consequences, executives ride off into the sunset. Only in corporate boardrooms can you run your business into the ground, take the whole economy along with you and come out ahead.”

Summary: Something is amiss when a business closure hurts the government’s finances more than it does the executives running the business."
SOURCE URL: https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/03/05/waste_of_the_day_bank_ceos_earned_millions_before_government_bailout_1095552.html


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  • Posted by $ splumb 2 days, 1 hour ago
    I'm reminded of the happenings at the soon-to-be-defunct Joann Fabrics.
    (no government bailouts, though)

    About 10 years ago, the board decided to put all the little mom and pop fabric stores out of business. So they switched their stock from middle-grade fabrics to middle-to higher-grade fabrics.
    It didn’t take long for those smaller shops to go under. Even Minnesota Fabrics and Hancock Fabrics couldn’t keep up, and before long, Joann Fabrics was the only game in town.

    That’s when the real changes occurred.

    All of the knowledgeable full-timers were fired, and they hired part-timers who knew nothing about what they were selling. Saved a fortune on pensions, health care, etc., to the detriment of customers who needed a little advice on things from time to time. The full-timers knew enough to lend a helping hand, but the part-timers only shrugged when asked a question.

    Then they switched the high-quality merchandise to middle-and lower-grade stuff, and then managed to source some merchandise that was even worse. Happy Value fabric, ugh. Truly awful stuff. Fell apart if you looked at it funny.

    Then they decided to add all the kitschy Chinese-made junk. Kids toys, candy, seasonal items and decor, you name it. Nothing to do with sewing and crafts.

    Then they started in on all that DEI (Didn’t Earn It) woke junk. I stopped shopping there back when they decided to destroy the smaller stores, but ugh, anyway.

    Unsurprisingly, early last year, nearly a billion in debt, delisted from the stock exchange, Joann filed for Chapter 11. The company went private, the board of directors were given huge retention bonuses to stick around, and the death spiral began in earnest.

    They cut staff to the bone, on average 2-3 people working at rather large stores. One part-timer at the cutting table, one part-timer cashier, one manager. And the freight! Trucks were shipping 700-1000 pieces of freight several times a week, and there was no one available to unload it. Boxes piling up in the storerooms, store aisles, you name it. Everywhere. All the new stock listed on the website was sitting in boxes someplace in the store, and never saw the light of day.

    Last month began the second bankruptcy in a year. This time they went into liquidation, and will cease to exist at the end of May.

    The board of directors are getting their half-million dollar golden parachutes (of course), and will probably move on to wreck other companies.
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    • Posted by 2 days ago
      This has been Wall Street's way for decades.
      They milked the small companies to death, manipulating share prices, and "helping" them
      out of financial difficulties by having the valuable property 'acquired' by bigger, less
      innovative but well-connected corporations.
      And the shareholders who invested in local companies repeatedly robbed by scum in NYC.
      Wall Street's thievery has been the only thing happening in NYC for decades- other than
      theft by corrupt government parasites assisting in the thievery.
      WS NIFO
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  • Posted by Lucky 2 days, 6 hours ago
    My memory is- monster payouts to execs before company collapse are not unusual.

    These bonuses are designed, we are told, to align the interests of top managers with the interests of shareholders. Cannot be done, in particular, when those execs design the bonus packages.

    Seems to be no recourse in law, or no one is trying.
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    • Posted by 2 days, 5 hours ago
      Very astute comments, Lucky. 👍
      So they pay them in advance of performance and after failure.
      Doesn't appear in the interests of shareholders to me.
      In my first job after college graduation, my employer was about to declare bankruptcy, i.e.,
      protection from creditors, and gave bonuses to the CEO and VP that doubled their salaries,
      meanwhile laying off recent employees and halting any plan to hire employees
      needed to accomplish productive goals.
      That was not in the interest of shareholders either.
      It WAS an indication of how large corporations and their Boards of Directors -
      often hand picked by CEOs - reward their corrupt pals and ignore ethical and
      rational actions to line their pockets.
      No one tries to fix it because the ones who write the laws are even worse parasites.
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      • Posted by $ allosaur 1 day, 22 hours ago
        Me dino never read "bankster" or banksters before until I read one of your posts before. I learned ad hominin attacks was a very bad thing when I took a Philosophy 101 aka a college Basic Logic course at Troy State with the GI Bill.
        But when I heard Rush Limbaugh all into doing that before I ever heard of The Gulch I found it to be quite funny. Such as when he called Al Gore "Ozone Head": for propagandizing about ozone allegedly disappearing.
        So me dino sez to hell with bad characters receiving personal bad character attacks being a no-no.
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        • Posted by Dobrien 1 day, 2 hours ago
          You never read my description of the enemy as…..Satanic Luciferian Genocidal Globalist Peedo Bankster Cabal?
          Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
          • Posted by $ allosaur 1 day, 2 hours ago
            Me self having landed 11 years and 2 months ago, whenever I first saw "bankster" goes way, way back.
            So I could--does it really matter?--could be wrong.
            Just about to turn 78, my memory ain't what it used to be. For but one example, three or so months ago I tried to tell someone I on the average frequent the Publix grocery store once a week but all in a sudden could not recall the name of the store.
            Kinda telling, huh? Or . . . not telling? Whatever!
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  • Posted by katrinam41 23 hours, 1 minute ago
    These corporations act the same, whether listed on Wall Street or a local corporation. My brother worked years for a company, nearly ready to retire, when they just closed their doors with two days' warning. All pension money was gone, no one received a dime of all that money they had worked for. Being a true objectivist, he went out and started his own personal physical trainer business, all properly certified and trained, using his own basement party room as a base, signing on clients who worked with him through the internet. He is doing just fine.
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