Update: Goldman Sachs says this rumor is “speculative nonsense.”
The rumor at the World Economic Forum at Davos is that Lloyd Blankfein will get $100 million this year.
“This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama,” a banker at one of Goldman’s rivals told The Times.
Goldman doesn’t report the exact pay of their top executives until the end of this month, but there is good reason to believe the $100 million number is accurate.
In 2007, Blankfein got a $67.9 million bonus. In 2009, Goldman’s profits topped 2007’s by $1.8 billion.
(Read more from businessinsider.com)
If Goldman were a private company operating in the free market, this wouldn’t be an issue, but Goldman Sachs takes bailouts — overt and covert — with monies taken from the American people by force.
Many people now say the government should crack down on their compensation. I say maybe, but the line between government and business should not have been perverted in the first place. The best and only regulation that works is forcing irresponsible companies to face the consequences of their behavior.