Feinberg Says Bonuses Paid by Troubled Banks Were Unmerited - NYTimes.com

Feinberg Says Bonuses Paid by Troubled Banks Were Unmerited - NYTimes.com

Just a few days ago, the overhaul of the U.S. Financial System received quite some applause from abroad. This morning Ilearned about this:

In a report to be released on Friday,Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master forexecutive compensation, is expected to name 17 financial companies that made questionable payouts totaling $1.58 billion immediately after accepting billions of dollars of taxpayer aid, according to two government officials with knowledge of his findings who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the report.

The group includes Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and theAmerican International Group as well as small lenders like Boston Private Financial Holdings. Mr. Feinberg’s report points to companies that he says paid eye-popping amounts or used haphazard criteria for awarding bonuses, the people with knowledge of his findings said, and he has singled out Citigroup as the biggest offender.

When I read this and consider that many people lost their jobs because of the financial crisis - it really makes me wonder what people paying out enormous bonuses based on questionable criteria essentially abusing taxpayer dollars and those receiving them think when they look into the mirror?