Thursday, November 12, 2009

Being Productive

In an interview with the Financial Times, Lloyd C. Blankfein, the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs in an effort to explain their multiple billion dollar bonuses said:

I often hear references to higher compensation at Goldman. What people fail to mention is that net income generated per head is a multiple of our peer average. The people of Goldman Sachs are among the most productive in the world.
How is this so when Goldman Sachs had to be bailed out to the tune of mulitple billions and hedged through AIG for additional billions, not to mention that Goldman Sachs doesn't produce anything?

As an investment bank Goldman Sachs employees are largely paper shufflers, essentially debt traders. Debt is about all it produces and that not very well since it need billions in bailout.

By the way, the point above about the "peer average" makes it right, eh? It's not that the industry itself needs reform or that the average is out of wack as Goldman Sachs has far fewer employees as pointed out in the Financial Times article.

Wall Street banks executives are so far removed from reality.

4 comments:

Marion said...

Well said, Judith! If that were the truth, then we're all worth much, much more than we get! I think teachers and nurses should make higher salaries because they touch so many lives.

I'm reminded of a conversation I had with my oldest daughter who's an art teacher. She was out sick a few weeks ago and the school had a football coach fill in for her class. He told her students that art was "useless" and a "big waste of time". Of course, the students ratted him out and she chewed his butt for telling her students that! She works very hard to give her high school students a taste of art history, art appreciation and countless varieties of art projects to expand their creativity. Also, she's an amazing artist herself and has a real passion for what she teaches.

Wall Street moguls aren't the only ones far removed from reality. So are football coaches, it seems!! LOL! I cannot imagine a world without art!! (Sorry I got a little off topic there!) Love & Blessings, dear friend!!

Judith Ellis said...

I LOVE your opening, Marion! FANTASTIC! I'm also COMPLETELY with you on the "art" teacher. Your daughter sounds like more than a few teachers and professors that I had. What a blessing they were! This kind of care is wonderful and very much needed. You may always express yourself freely here. I like it. :-) Many blessings to you and your daughter, my dear friend.

zorro said...

Maybe The Goldman Sack guy goes to one of these churches
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/rosin-prosperity-gospel

Judith Ellis said...

Thanks, Zorro. But I must admit that I had not the patience to read through this entire article; I almost didn't even read any of it after reading the title. To ask such a question, "Did Christianity Cause the Crash?" is ridiculous to me. These pastors, as off-putting as many are, don't set the rules or impact the markets directly. Government and Wall Street caused the crash enabled by a culture that said more is always better. So, indirectly, the pastors may have contributed to the crash.

By the way, Blankfein, is Jewish I think. So, he's probably not a member of any of these churches. But there are more than a few rabbis whose practices are deplorable as well. Do you remember a few months back the kidney trafficing scandal from New York to Israel among way more than a few rabbis? I wonder what happened to them? It was a big ring. I was also shocked when I lived in New York to find out how much seats in some synagogues were going for during High Holy days. The focus on money has not evaded this community either. It's a human issue.

I think mega churches should be taxed. Theses are largely businesses. One large politically motivated church in San Antonio with a big pro-Israel at all cost stance lost its non-profit status. His messages always seem so loveless and bigoted to me. Many mega churches don't seem to be largely helping those in their communities; many are not even helping those in their churches. With their taxes, maybe we can help pay for health care.