The classic refrain from Wall Street and the Republicans, in opposition to President Obama’s $500,000 cap on the salaries of those bank executives who have so failed in their jobs that they required billions of taxpayer money, is that 1) the market should determine the salaries; and 2) the best get paid the best.
Those two excuses are, of course, wrong. Banks were failing all last year, but the market did nothing to prevent those failed CEOs and executives from receiving hundreds of millions, if not billions, in bonuses that they did not earn. Indeed, some of the bonuses paid out had the feel of a literal robbery. And if these miserable failures in life did earn that money, if they were the best, then why are banks failing everywhere? Why did they need a federal bailout?
Logic is the enemy of Wall Street now, I suppose. It has always been the enemy of Republicans. But I digress.
His rotundness, Ric Struthers, the head of Bank of America’s credit card operation, was in Wilmington yesterday to talk about irony.
Yes, irony.
In his speech, Struthers hammered away at the need to get people back on the job — and sooner rather than later.
“I think the most important thing we have to do is get people back to work. Small business will be the foundation to getting people back to work,” he said. His remarks come at the same time Bank of America is moving forward with plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next three years.
Beginning Monday, an unspecified number of Bank of America workers in Delaware were terminated, according to Betty Riess, spokeswoman for the company, which is the state’s largest financial services employer. The number was less than 100, according to someone close to the situation. The layoffs will be ongoing over a three-year period, Riess said.
“We need to get people back to work, but don’t pay attention to the people we are putting out of work. Yes. Yes. Small business is the key. Big business can do nothing. In fact, we are the problem. They must pick up the slack and put the people I just laid off back to work.”
There he was lecturing us about a lack of confidence, and how that lack of confidence feeds a negative cycle that has lowered Bank of America’s profits and share price, all the while he was laying off yet more people. Mr. Struthers, what the f*ck do you think feeds that lack of confidence, you prick? Job losses.
Confidence is the key to all the locks, Struthers said, quoting Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno.
“As a nation, more than anything else we do, we have to restore confidence among the American people. This may be a pretty tall order, but it is the single most important thing that can happen to get our country growing again,” Struthers said.
Consumer confidence now is so fragile that any negative news impacts the stock market — and the prices of bank stocks, Struthers said.
Let me ask you all something. If all that is needed for businesses and the economy to do well is confidence, they why are these horrid executives paid untold millions to do their job? We can bring in Richard Simmons and Stewart Smiley for much less, and whammo, we have ourselves some confidence.