Posted on 09/21/2008 9:08:36 PM PDT by Tulsa Ramjet
STAFF at Lehman’s New York office who helped to cause the world’s biggest corporate bankruptcy are to share in a $2.5 billion bonanza.
The bonus, which has been described by London staff as a “scandal” has been pledged by Barclays Capital, the British-based bank that last week acquired Lehman’s American operation and took on 10,000 staff.
The $2.5 billion (£1.4 billion) pot, which has been ring-fenced as part of the acquisition, has caused huge resentment among the 5,000 staff in the firm’s European and Middle Eastern operations who are not guaranteed to be paid after this month. There are, however, hopes that half the jobs in Lehman’s Canary Wharf office could be saved today by either Barclays or Nomura. Bids are being submitted for its UK equities and investment-banking business.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
Barclays was smart enough not to buy the whole company last weekend, and so I suspect they were smart enough to pick out the good businesses (with employees still worth keeping) and largely avoid the bad when they ended up making a bid.
At least in the draft of the bill I saw, the bailout is only available to companies headquartered in the US. I’m not sure whether this will practically prevent them from participating, but it may.
Ihope I’m right, Barclay’s and others; From Rueters:
“LONDON: Barclays will put in an offer for parts of Lehman Brothers’ European business on Sunday to meet an indicative deadline set by administrators, a person familiar with the matter said.
Barclays bought Lehman’s core U.S. broker-dealer business in a $1.75 billion (955.9 million pound) deal on Tuesday, and executives said they would consider buying more Lehman assets outside the United States, such as some equities and equity capital markets businesses in Europe.”
So Lehman’s is being sold piecemeal, what isn’t being bought are the bad loans but they do have property attached to them. The loans will probably be the last things to be auctioned to pay the creditors. Total Lehman debt is $613 Billion with about $150 billion in corporate bonds.
If they bancrupt the company they are obviously idiots who deserve to lose everything.
“transitioned out, or thrown out”????
How about jailed?
It always has been. Before it was economics, it was polio, war, famine...
Life's been so good for so long that people have forgotten that some kind of hard times are always just around the corner.
IIRC, Barclays is even named in the bill that Bush is sending to Congress this week as one foreign bank that could be included in the Sec Treasury’s give-away.
The money is fungible.
No. Barclays let Lehman fail, and then bought the good stuff. The crap is in the hands of the remaining insolvent entity, and is not subject to the bailout.
If someone thinks I'm wrong, please correct me.
If this were you or I and our creditors (and/or the courts) found out we were sitting on $2.5 billion while filing for bankruptcy..................
Deregulated by Clinton in 1999 and PUSHED by GWB in 2002. The financial institutions responsible for delivering the subprimes to the poor and illegal aliens did so at the behest of GWB, who has been pandering to illegal aliens since day one. Can’t easily round up and deport millions of illegal aliens if they are homeowners and IMO that was part of the agenda. Besides, destroying our economy will also make swallowing the NAU/Amero pill more tolerable.
President Calls for Expanding Opportunities to Home Ownership
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020617-2.html
Not as bad as it seems
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=illuminati+jokes+rogue+trader
Not pushed by GWB, but encouraged.
The industry was making loans to people with very little if nothing down.
there’s nothing wrong with pushing loans, but the underwriters who are supposed to protect the mortgage industry failed miserably, and then fannie mae and freddie mac failed in validating the failure by buying them. Everyone was making money so nobody cared.
Its a rather unique way to make a living: Run your corporation poorly, make YOUR money, and then when the spigot finally shuts down, and then have the govt tax the american people to prop up your bleeding firm, because such a failure would be catastrophic for the economy.
Fire them all and pull back their pay and bonuses made over the past two years, thus no taxes.
“My sources tell me that some people are pretty grim other there, while some others are happy that Barclay is picking up the pieces.”
There is no upside for the taxpayer and shareholder in this mess. The top dogs will still come out as hero’s to the financial class. When you get to a certain level and one division fails it should fall on you like a ton of bricks instead of expecting me to protect your assets and houses in the Hamptons, Vail, etc. I want suffering and pain in payment for my dollars since I won’t see any of the upside only the bills. I don’t get any slack when I make the wrong investment.
I am beginning to think they are hiring the criminal class instead of the best of the class on WS. There is too much Tony Soprano and not enough Warren Buffet in these people. It’s never their fault except when they make a profit and then you get your own TV show (a little Jim Cramer dig). The Used car business is missing a lot of players.
For Barclay’s charge prime + 5% loan secured by real estate with a current value 200% over the loan amount.
You know, before Enron, in China, there was a similar situation. The majority of them got life in prison and the others were sentenced to death.
At least in the draft of the bill I saw, the bailout is only available to companies headquartered in the US.It's already been fixed. Foreign firms are now included in the bailout.
No. Barclays let Lehman fail, and then bought the good stuff.I think Barclay's has its own share of bad loans to dump.
2.5 billion dollars? unbelievable
PUSHED by GWB in 2002.Right. The "ownership society" was such a success they have to go take it back now.
That's possible....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.