Slog - Comments on Pictures from the Floating World http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world About Henry Paulson's tax loophole (from a 2006 story in Forbes): The Goldman Sachs boss will see his annual paycheck shrink from last year's $38 million to a paltry $183,500 once he takes over the job of Treasury secretary. But don't shed too many tears for Paulson. He has amassed quite a fortune--a roughly $700 million equity stake in Wall Street's premier investment banking house. And soon, he will have the chance to diversify a good chunk of those holdings without paying a dime to the Internal Revenue Service. By accepting the Treasury post, Paulson is poised to take advantage... Copyright 2008 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:15:58 -0800 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:05:15 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by ellarosa this is all so depressing. of course, we saw it coming a mile away, but now it's just seem so...awful. my prediction: those in the drug trade will do quite well in the coming years.

]]> ellarosa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152759 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152759 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:28:06 -0800 Comment by Andrew We are going to be fine. The last thing we need to do is to give these fucking thugs, and that is all they are, $700 Billion under the threat we are all doomed if we don't.

Bush and his crooks have lied to us too many times. Besides, there is no one who is positive that the bail out would have worked in the first place; it was just Bush's cronies last push to get the last couple of pennies out of the treasury before they dump it on Obama's lap in January.

Congress finally found some balls and stood up to Bush and Wall Street. There just maybe some hope after all.

]]> Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152762 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152762 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:33:13 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave Goldman is the company that everyone else loves to hate because they make money better than any other company in their class.

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152766 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152766 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:38:04 -0800 Comment by Super Jesse Their average salary isn't really that impressive considering that I'm sure there are fund managers pulling in 8+ figures. I wanna know their median salary, that's gonna be far more telling because they probably have a janitor that makes like 40k or something.

]]> Super Jesse http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152770 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152770 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:42:01 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I propose nationalizing just Goldman Sachs, and then executing every single one of those 30,522 (with an exemption for anyone making less than, say, $50k). A hundred a day, in Battery Park. How do you like that suggestion, BA?

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152774 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152774 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:44:16 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave I think you either are losing money in your 401(k) in a bad way today or you're trying to get a rise out of me.

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152778 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152778 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:50:25 -0800 Comment by Homo Will I know why it failed! Because you can't vote in good conscience for a half millon dollar golden parachute. Even if it were paid out above that, which wouldn't be taxed, we'd be in the same place at tax time.

I'm glad it failed!

]]> Homo Will http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152781 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152781 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:52:48 -0800 Comment by if only If this was the People's Republic of China, these officials would be led out in front of cameras and shot.

]]> if only http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152789 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152789 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:00:35 -0800 Comment by Colleen Dang! I got behind on my SLOG reading. Someone remind me again why this is all Jonathan Golob's fault.

]]> Colleen http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152790 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152790 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:00:53 -0800 Comment by Jeremy from Seattle Hmm, Paulson was at Goldman, it gets bailed out, but its competition is allowed to go under and be purchased...

nice.

]]> Jeremy from Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152792 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152792 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:01:52 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave @8 and then we could down a big glass of melamine milk while inhaling various dangerous particulate matter and then be unable to post our thoughts online. Police states are so great!

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152793 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152793 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:02:30 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave how was goldman bailed out by the government? They received infusions of cash from private investors (either individual or corporate)

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152797 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152797 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:03:53 -0800 Comment by PopTart @5 Sweet! And then can we raid their houses in the Hamptons and their condos in the city and take all their good stuff and re-distribute it too?

Viva la Revolution!!!!

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152800 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152800 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:06:54 -0800 Comment by itsmadamedefarge I'm down for all sorts of executions, but can we use the guillotine? I want to knit as the heads roll into the baskets.

]]> itsmadamedefarge http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152812 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152812 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:20:16 -0800 Comment by laterite Ok, we've cleared the deck and are back to where we were pre-Bush in the stock market. Let's get Obama in office and rebuild ourselves into a powerhouse again.

]]> laterite http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152837 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152837 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:42:16 -0800 Comment by Chris Goldman has not been bailed out directly . . . yet. But as a result of AIG getting bailed out, Goldman avoided a $20 billion dollar loss on its credit derivatives which were insured by AIG. So, bailing out AIG directly saved Goldman indirectly

]]> Chris http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152852 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152852 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:51:16 -0800 Comment by Vince Seven hundred billion dollars! What fucking insanity. Who told people they won't lose money in the stock market? This is a rich peoples bail out. If I invested my whole retirement in the stock market and expected to have just oodles of money some day, I'd be a fool. They should flood the Small Business Administration with cheap capital for loans and give the people another stimulus payment. Fuck Wall Street.

]]> Vince http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152860 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152860 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:59:27 -0800 Comment by Bellevue Ave that 700 bil number? That number wasn't chosen by any specific criteria except it was a shit ton of money.

]]> Bellevue Ave http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152862 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152862 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:00:53 -0800 Comment by PopTart @18, To back up BA here, let me once again post the quotation from a spokeswoman at Treasury to Forbes.com last Tuesday:

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Can I play pull a really big number out of my butt too? Uh, uh, uuuuuuunh. Let me clean it off a bit....Oooo, looks like 62 quadrillion.

]]> PopTart http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152919 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152919 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:45:30 -0800 Comment by Fnarf @6, I am absolutely SHOCKED that you would suggest even for a second that I might get a smidgen of enjoyment from winding you up.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152929 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152929 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:55:48 -0800 Comment by Timo @19: If I were a kid and it was still 1970 or something, I would have said, "Nuh-uh, 62 GOOGOL! But things were different then.

]]> Timo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152932 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152932 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:56:04 -0800 Comment by green Paulson is a good guy. He didn't even want the job to begin with. He's given an insane amount of money to conservation organizations. Most of his fortune will be left to environmental groups.

See: http://www.pbs.org/wsw/news/fortunearticle_20031229_01.html

]]> green http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152933 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152933 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:59:26 -0800 Comment by laterite @21: Indeed they were. For one, our financial overlords were more prudent in their irresponsibility.

]]> laterite http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152938 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/pictures_from_the_floating_world#c1152938 Money Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:05:15 -0800