Bloomberg News: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wants to repay the $10 billion it got from the U.S. Treasury last year to signal the firm is healthy and to escape limitations that were imposed with the money, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said.
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Goldman’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, made $70 million in 2008 according to Goldman’s annual proxy statement. Given the US Treasury’s new proposal to limit executive compensation to $500,000 on future bailout funds, it would appear that Lloyd does not want to take a $69.5 million paycut.
Treasury’s proposal is just a bone. The Administration wants Congressional authorization to spend billions, if not, trillions on new bailouts of toxic assets funded by the taxpayer. They need to look tough on bankers to maintain public support for more financial coup d’etat.