NY mayor: Wall Street bonuses shouldn't be public

[G_j]

Source: AP


Mar 19, 2:51 PM EDT

NY mayor: Wall Street bonuses shouldn't be public

NEW YORK (AP) -- Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended bailed-out private companies that don't want to disclose the names of employees who receive bonuses.

The former CEO likened New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's battle for information about employee bonuses to "snooping around."

Cuomo has subpoenaed American International Group Inc. for its list. Meanwhile, a judge ordered Bank of America Corp. to disclose information about bonuses given to employees at Merrill Lynch & Co. just before the bank bought the brokerage company.

Bloomberg said Thursday if people work in the private sector, their salaries and bonuses generally should not be in the public domain.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BLOOMBERG_BONUSES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-19-14-51-51

[msongs]

1. corporate bailout recipients have forfeited their rights to privacy nt

[marylanddem]

3. Right on. Bloomberg is a punk.

[saigon68]

15. Screw him he is a POS

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Mike Bloomberg...

Man of the people. :eyes:

[apnu]

4. Bite me Mike! I have a stake in these companies and I want to know.

I don't care to know who gets bonuses for Microsoft because Microsoft isn't part owned by me the tax payer.

When my tax dollars are used to shore up and by interests in private companies, then I'm part owner and I demand to know who's getting paid to foul up my investment I also demand that those who run my company inefficiently be given their walking papers. That's what shareholders do, I'm a share holder now Mike, or did you forget that while counting your billions?

What a tool.

[soothsayer]

5. huzzah! well said

[aquart]

6. A billionaire would think that.

I, however, DON'T.

[pleah]

7. Of course, coming from a Billionaire.

Kiss my ass mayor.

[EFerrari]

8. If we own 80% of AIG, is it still the private sector?

[redqueen]

9. Generally, maybe not. Comapnies who got taxpayer funds - that's not generally.

That's a very good reason why they should be public.

[kestrel91316]

10. Foolish stance for Bloomberg to take. Most New Yorkers would probably disagree.

[Jim Sagle]

11. Whadda piece o' shit Bloomberg is.

:puke:

[woodsprite]

12. If our tax money is bailing them out, it's not private $$$ anymore. n/t

[Coventina]

13. It's MY MONEY! I deserve to know who is getting it!

Bloomberg can KMA!!

on edit: I was so mad I couldn't type straight!

[Jefferson23]

14. LOL, at least this fucking jerk is open about his opinions, don't hold

back now Mayor, let your true interests for the public at large be known.... sheesh.

[tomm2thumbs]

16. shoulda thought of that before ya took the free money

MAKE THEM FAMOUS - if you ain't proud of your bonus money, give it back to the taxpayers who paid it

[hamsterjill]

29. That's exactly it!

If they feel they 'earned' their bonus, then surely they are proud to have received it. They should, therefore, then be proud to admit that they received it.

I want to see their names and faces on the 6 o'clock news. And I'm not advocating a mob mentality of violence. But I feel the American public has the right to know who these individuals are.

[aggiesal]

17. Once you accept tax payer $$'s, ...

then everything becomes public.

It's called transparency.

[notadmblnd]

18. Thye should when they're using public money

and I've been told that the public owns 80% of the company now.

[gmudem]

19. What an incredibly tone deaf statement.

Hopefully New Yorkers remember this in 2010 when he runs for re-election, which he would never have the chance to do in the first place without his billions

[gratuitous]

20. So it's okay for the government to monitor my phone calls without a warrant

But making public who is getting how much of my tax dollars is not okay? Is that your position, Mayor Bloomberg?

[sudopod]

21. Enjoy being not relected lol. nt

[aldo]

22. Richie Rich siding with his own

Who are we dirty peasants to be asking questions?

[LynnTheDem]

23. If they're paid for by PUBLIC MONEY they bloody well should be public.

Unless they got summat to HIDE?

[Pharlo]

24. I agree, bonuses shouldn't be public.

But, then, taxpayers shouldn't have to bail out Wall Street.

Public disclosure of monetary compensation is the cost of their forfeiting their free market policy and pleading with the government for money.

Consequences can be unpleasant. They don't like it, they can give every penny (plus interest) back to the government and return to their aura of privacy.

Simple, very simple.

[Vidar]

25. Spoken like a billionaire. elitist asshole.

[bobburgster]

26. Hey Mayor....

Bloomberg said Thursday, "If people work in the private sector, their salaries and bonuses generally should not be in the public domain."

They don't work on the private sector anymore"

[Alcibiades]

27. Because we know informed financial decisionmaking

is best made in the absence of a full accounting of how firms spend their money.

An odd position for someone who made megabucks purveying financial information to take.

[Carni]

28. Of course BILLIONAIRE Bloomberg feels that way

Hopefully it will be reflected when he attempts another term.

[NutmegYankee]

30. Generally - No. Getting public funds - Oh Hell Yes!

[madmom]

31. I call bullshit! In this fundie f*cking town I live in every time the

GM employees living here get anything it's front page news,right down to the penny.Every raise, every cost of living allowance, every benefit gained. You'd think it was them who was paying it.

[The Hope Mobile]

32. WTF??

[acmavm]

33. Could this arrogant bastard really get re-elected? Hasn't he pissed

enough people off by now so that we don't ever have to be annoyed by this fuckwit again?

[DebbieCDC]

34. If you take taxpayer money then everything should be open to the public

You're not "private" anymore if you are accepting "public" help.

Analogy: look at people who live in "public" housing. Everything -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- about their lives, families, finances, etc. has to be revealed to the governning body (the local housing authority/HUD entity).

These people are most often elderly, poor, and/or minorities. Why should THEIR lives be a open book when they take public assistance but the multimillionaire rat bastards on Wall Street get to keep everything private when THEY take public money?

[Libertas1776]

35. billionaire bum

Gee, the billionaire wall street mayor of New York supports the bonus takers. I'm so freaking surprised. :sarcasm:
Under Emperor Bloomie's rule (an extention of King Rudy's rule), NYC has become a hellish, gentrified, yuppified, burnt out billionaires playground. All hail the mayor for life!

[amandabeech]

36. So long as AIG is a reporting company for SEC purposes,

the compensation packages for the very top executives will be disclosed eventually, but perhaps as late as February 2010.

Some of this is going to come out one way or another.

[No Elephants]

37. Cuomo will subpoena it and Barney Frank has said his committee will as well. Bloomberg

is whistling in the dark.