The one person both Cramer and Stewart excluded from their criticism and agreed to praise by name was my friend and master documentary maker for CNBC, David Faber.
Now to the main event. The media world agrees 100% that Stewart bested Cramer and that it was not a funny 12 minutes. Jon Stewart has a stinging serious side that underlies the essence of his comedy. In fact, calling what Steward does four nights a week comedy is misleading. It is usually biting satire with a purpose and often hysterical in its presentation.
Just a footnote to the whole CNBC debate. True, in the financial firms that I am familiar with, overhead monitors broadcast CNBC to the firm throughout the day. But note well, the volume is muted. The main purpose CNBC serves in this context is to provide stock ticker information. In this model, the conversation among the correspondents is background chatter of little consequence.
Following this line of reasoning, it well may be that Jon Stewart has used CNBC and Kramer as straw men. And the real culprits lie elsewhere unscathed by this latest skirmish over financial wrongdoings.
Showing posts with label clawback. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clawback. Show all posts
3/13/09
1/30/09
Tzvee to Barack: Either Clawback Wall Street Bailout Bonuses or Shut Up
Obama gave Wall Street a tongue-lashing yesterday, as the Times reported, "Banker Bonuses are 'Shameful' Obama Declares."As Dick Cheney would say, "So?"
What should Barack have said?
That it is shameful and that he is proposing a clawback tax to retrieve those bonuses.
Why so shy Barack?
Senator Dodd says the "case for clawing back past pay is weak."
Not so. Nope.
If the case was weak why would the president and all right minded people think the opposite, namely that, "the case for clawing back unwarranted bailout bonuses is strong"?
Why say anything at all if you are not going to follow up with laws? The bosses doled out the money, mainly to themselves. They are not listening to Obama. The workers took the bonuses. They sure don't hear Barack.
Is this going to be the Obama administration signature?
Speak loudly and carry a small stick?
If so then let's turn the rhetoric back on that attitude of empty presidential bluster: “Shameful.” “Outrageous.” “The height of irresponsibility.”
Few Ways to Recover Bonuses to Bankers
By ERIC DASH and VIKAS BAJAJ
“Shameful.” “Outrageous.” “The height of irresponsibility.”
President Obama had some harsh words on Thursday for bankers who paid themselves billions of dollars in bonuses despite the sweeping government rescue of the nation’s financial industry. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut said “every possible legal means” should be used to claw back the money.
But the sober reality, compensation experts said, is that most if not all of the money that the banks have paid out is probably gone for good. The “legal means” Senator Dodd referred to are few. Unless actual wrongdoing is uncovered at the banks — and so far prosecutors have not disclosed any — the case for clawing back past pay is weak.
“It’s not as easy as pounding the gavel on the table,” said Michael S. Melbinger, an executive compensation lawyer at Winston & Strawn in Chicago. ...yadda, yadda...
12/8/08
Times: The Painful Morgan Stanley Bonus Claw-Back Polka
Our hearts go out to the indigent managers at Morgan Stanley who are subjected to diminished bonuses with strings attached.Morgan Stanley’s three top executives — John J. Mack, the chief executive, and the co-presidents, James P. Gorman and Walid A. Chammah — will not be paid bonuses, the firm said. Bonuses for the bank’s 14-person operating committee will be cut by 75 percent.What? You fainted when you read that they will receive any bonus at all this dismal recession year? There, there. You must learn to feel their pain. Story...
And you must learn to hum a few bars of the Painful Morgan Stanley Bonus Claw-Back Polka.
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