Don't like the notion of Wall Street employees receiving bonuses? Shoot the messenger - as Adam Green at The Huffington Post has done.
In a Feb. 2 post on The Huffington Post, Green said it was bad form for CNBC "Street Signs" host Erin Burnett to even think about considering the other side of the anti-Wall Street bonus argument, since some Wall Street banks received TARP funds, courtesy of the taxpayer.
"There are, though - well, how should we say this - the taxpayer money is not being used to pay the bonuses," Burnett explained on NBC's Feb. 1 "Meet the Press." "I think people could understand if you work for a company - right? If the three of us worked for a company, your guests, and I lost $10 billion but Steve [Forbes] over there, he made a billion dollars. So overall the company actually loses money, but Steve went and did his very darndest for that company and he made money. So should he be paid for his work? That's essentially what we're talking about here."
However, this wasn't an acceptable explanation for Green. In true Huffington Post classiness, Green attacked Burnett for a being a shill for Wall Street bonus receiving employees. And, although the anti-Wall Street bonus crowd has gotten their message out - with President Barack Obama and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., receiving plenty of media coverage for their anti-bonus/anti-profit tirades, Green was upset that the other side might have its voice heard.
"[I]sn't it good to know that you're, how should I say this, stupid?" Green wrote, impersonating the thinking of Burnett. "You thought an executive's ‘bonus' was a bonus! Silly member of the public. If only you understood."
Green might not have realized that in some cases, a bulk of the salary that some on Wall Street receive are performance-based and come in the form of bonuses - similar to a way a waiter or waitress would earn tips for their service. A segment by CBS correspondent Anthony Mason on the Jan. 29 "Evening News" explained this:
"Oh, it's more than likely that the bonuses paid to these financial services people accounts for 50 or 75 percent of their total compensation, and it's geared to revenue that they brought in or success they brought into the firm," Scot Melland of Dice Holding explained to Mason. "So it's more akin to a sales commission than what you or I would think about as a bonus."
Even though it's a point Green has yet to have been able to grasp, he still dished out the vitriol on Burnett.
"[W]hat she's doing here professionally is a real problem, and it's NBC's problem at the end of the day," Green wrote. "The public simply can't afford to have economic news given to us by Wall Street ‘embeds.' We need Burnett to listen to her Wall Street sources, be skeptical of them, ask them very tough and sometimes uncomfortable questions, and be willing to report negatively on them when they abuse the public trust. If they never talk to her again, so be it. Donald Rumsfeld won't talk to some reporters either -- and where is he today? Disgraced in history."
Green also complained that there weren't enough "progressive" voices on the "Meet the Press" roundtable, even though liberal Democratic Sen. John Kerry, Mass., praised Zandi for his analysis of the government stimulus earlier in the show. He also suggested New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has had no shortage of appearances on the competitor of "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Green suggested the liberal rantings of the left-wing columnist could serve as the voice of the public.
"It's also worth noting that the guests Meet The Press invited on to discuss the economic crisis were Erin Burnett, Steve Forbes, and Moody's Mark Zandi -- all Wall Street voices," Green wrote. "There was no progressive voice like Paul Krugman there to stick up for the public."
It's also worth noting Green didn't give Burnett the opportunity to clarify her remarks before he posted his HuffPo diatribe - as Burnett pointed out on the "Stop Trading" segment on her Feb. 2 "Street Signs" show.




















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Par for Puff Ho
February 2, 2009 - 19:03 ET by slickwillie2001The Puff Ho specializes in cheap shots. Here's a more reasoned breakdown of the sloppy $18B meme: http://justoneminute...
The left are not going to
February 2, 2009 - 19:28 ET by bigtimerThe left are not going to be happy until they socialize every single thing in this country....they are all working arm in arm via all msm venues...of course including HuffnPuff.
Complete control.
Simple as that.
Like I've always said for along time now....Soros is smiling.
BT
February 2, 2009 - 19:44 ET by thebutlerdiditDo you know if Soros owns Financial Times Online? It is full of socialist rhetoric. I didn't know if it was paid for, or if it was because the writers are in the UK. Or EU, or whatever its name is this month.
Bringing the government in to run Wall Street is like saying, "Dad burned the dinner, let's get the dog to cook." PJ O'Rourke
Hi tbdi... Just got back
February 2, 2009 - 20:04 ET by bigtimerHi tbdi...
Just got back to check in here...
No, I don't know, don't think so, but nothing would surprise me.
Btw...I am also talking about the candidates he is backing behind the scenes via other entities/groups he has backed and formed, let alone people getting put into this administration also.
He, as you probably well know has a huge network, that has an enormous web of tentacles now that reach within all the leftist party, including a big chunk of the unions to-boot...he's been working at and invested enough long time now.
I call him the Number One enemy within.
Sorry I'm in such a hurry...got things cooking.
Yeah, I do know, unfortunately
February 2, 2009 - 20:54 ET by thebutlerdiditSoros is a pos. I still haven't gotten over his selling short after 9/11. Of course, it isn't his country, so who cares, right? He is also dangerous. I wouldn't be surprised about anything he has done. I wonder if he is one of the ones who is guiding Obama in his secret talks with Iran and Syria?
Bringing the government in to run Wall Street is like saying, "Dad burned the dinner, let's get the dog to cook." PJ O'Rourke
typical
February 2, 2009 - 19:49 ET by klchadwickIt is typical liberal beavior to rant and rave at soundbites that they cherry-picked from an entire segment or interview. I bet they have key words that they specifically look and listen for and based their entire argument around that sentence.
Dummies, all of them!
February 2, 2009 - 20:02 ET by jdlybrandnewsisblues
My grandmaw used to call it "pitching a hissy fit". What the heck kind of coffee do they drink at HuffPo? Probably laced with kool-aid.
class warfare
February 2, 2009 - 21:03 ET by soosanThis smacks of class warfare. Only the government can treat people fairly. This whole new Obama theme want to make me puke. Too many Americans are buying into this whole class envy thing. This is truly a slippery slope.
If the President, believes,
February 2, 2009 - 21:40 ET by motherbeltIf the President, believes, as he said that
There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time.
I admit that I get a little jealous when someone rakes in a huge bonus, but think about this. If Obama thinks he should name when people should get bonuses and profits, how long before he believes government has the right to determine how much profit or bonus is "enough"?
'Change' you will be left with
February 2, 2009 - 21:52 ET by Sergeant ROCKOf course, that's the whole idea. Call this phase, the camel's nose under the tent.
Bolton/KEYES 2012
Adam Green is the stupid
February 2, 2009 - 22:17 ET by TN MomAdam Green is the stupid one!
and hey, if obama is gonna attack Wall Street, he needs to take NBC to the woodshed for the price of the SuperBowl commericals. Perhaps obama will take a paddle to Geithner, Rangel, & Daschele for not paying their taxes. Maybe obama is gonna give a stern talking to Al Gore for perpertrating his Global Warming/Climate Change HOAX. I am hopeful obama will give a good wooping to UAW for their part in the failing of Big 3.
If obama is gonna give anyone a 'tongue lashing', it should be Pelosi and Reid for their PORKULUS bill.
Shafted Again
February 3, 2009 - 10:46 ET by UtherpendWell thanks to PEBO and the MSM this will be the second year in a row that I have not recieved a pay raise or bonus. See I work at Bank of America and they have suspended all bonuses and pay raises. Last year we took over Country Wide right before the bubble burst so that took all the profit my division made and canceled out out bonuses. This year PEBO and the Media have caused B of A to try and be politically correct so for that I once again get the shaft.
Don't misunderstand me, I am not an executive, I am simply a cog in the wheel and right now I am not getting any help thru the higher taxes to come. Thanks Dems for nothing.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you."
bonuses
February 3, 2009 - 15:23 ET by east tennessee johnDon't some of our favorite hollywood loons get $15-20 million per flick, particularly ones critizing Bush no matter what the box office receipts are? Don't the companies get to write off those losses? Since Rendition is ok for Barack the First, does the flik get rereleased?