I WANT MY MONEY BACK! OK, maybe I didn't pay too much into the BILLIONS of dollars that my government gave to these banker barons who were partly to blame for running the economy into foreclosure, but it pisses me off that these fools haven't a clue that they are adding insult to my injury. Even in the face of previous admonishment for the excesses of other banking and industry executives who didn't have a clue that riding private company jets to DC to beg for money would be noticed by people struggling to survive as our economy tanks. What are they being rewarded for? Being thick as a brick? Shale Stone Wells Fargo defends, then cancels Vegas junket By DANIEL WAGNER and MATT APUZZO (Associated Press Writers) From Associated Press February 04, 2009 12:36 AM EST WASHINGTON - Wells Fargo & Co. abruptly canceled Tuesday a pricey Las Vegas casino junket for employees after a torrent of criticism that it was misusing $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money. The company initially defended the trip after The Associated Press reported it had booked 12 nights beginning Friday at the Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore Las Vegas. But within hours, investigators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill had scorned the bank, and the company canceled. The conference is a Wells Fargo tradition. Previous all-expense-paid trips have included helicopter rides, wine tasting, horseback riding in Puerto Rico and a private Jimmy Buffett concert in the Bahamas for more than 1,000 of the company's top employees and guests. "In light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel this event as well," the company said Tuesday night in a news release that also said the it had never planned to use taxpayer bailout money for the trip. Corporate retreats have attracted criticism since the bank bailout last fall. Congress scolded insurance giant American International Group Inc. for spending $440,000 on spa treatments for executives just days after the company took $85 billion from taxpayers. AIG has since canceled all such outings. Because of the bailout and the recession, other banks have canceled employee outings, including Morgan Stanley, which informed employees Monday that an appreciation trip to Monte Carlo was off. Wells Fargo, however, had not. And initially, the company indicated it had no plans to cancel. "Recognition events are still part of our culture," spokeswoman Melissa Murray said Tuesday afternoon. "It's really important that our team members are still valued and recognized." In previous years, top Wells Fargo loan officers were treated to performances by Cher, Jay Leno and Huey Lewis. One year, the company provided fortune tellers and offered camel rides, said Debra Rickard, a former Wells Fargo mortgage employee from Colorado who attended the events regularly until she left the company in 2004. Every night when employees returned to their rooms, there was a new gift on their pillows, she said. "I was amazed with just how lavish it was," Rickard said. "We stayed in top hotels, the entertainment was just unbelievable, and there were awards - you got plaques or trophies." Kevin Waetke, another spokesman for Wells Fargo, said the Las Vegas trip provided a "unique opportunity" for Wells Fargo employees and employees of newly acquired bank Wachovia Corp., "to focus on continuing to do all we can for U.S. homeowners." On Capitol Hill, lawmakers disagreed. "Let's get this straight: These guys are going to Vegas to roll the dice on the taxpayer dime?" said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who sits on the House Financial Services Committee. "They're tone deaf. It's outrageous." The trip was to come on the heels of this week's announcement that Wells Fargo lost more than $2.3 billion in the last three months of 2008. "Now, they're sending employees on junkets to Las Vegas. You do the math," said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who recently sought information about Wells Fargo's bonuses as part of his investigation into the banking industry. Rooms at the Wynn and the Encore are consistently among the most expensive in Las Vegas. ... Wells Fargo reversed course Tuesday evening. The company said it had planned to scale back the Las Vegas trip but decided to cancel it, just as it had already done for other events scheduled for this year. The statement did not say what, other than a four-night sales conference, the company had planned for its 12 nights in Las Vegas. The company said, however, it did not plan any other employee recognition events this year. Morgan Stanley, which received $10 billion in bailout funds, had been planning to send its top employees to a hotel in Monte Carlo this April. A Morgan Stanley travel agent said that the trip, along with a similar event in the Bahamas, was still on as of Tuesday afternoon. But company spokesman Jim Wiggins said employees were told Monday that the events were canceled. He said the travel agent was incorrect. --- Associated Press writer Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
well shale, we all have gotten fucked but really, really good! just got my tax forms all perpared and shipped off to the i.r.s. my accountant says, i'm getting one hell of a large rebate. over the years i have only 3 times had to pay the i.r.s. and, i have almost always gotten good rebates, so i have not paid too much to the i.r.s., still i'm sooooooo mega pissed off about all this shit and all the people who will be hurt by it too! you can be nice to the bankers and call them 'bank barons.' want to know what i call them? ROBBER BARONS! do you know what a robber baron is? a robber baron is a ruthless predatory plutocrat, and you know what a plutocrat is? that is a person who has power due to their wealth. the so called "world economy" is a plutocracy run by corportism. we already have a world government, and it is not the u.n. either... it is the corporations! i know several people from high schools who are now high level bankers. 1981 was my first class reunion. they told me, that the next 40 years would be a capitalist blowout thanks to ronald reagan, and they were going to get as rich as they could, no matter who they had to hurt in the process. as lee (a banker) said to me about hurting people, she said "fuck them! most people are so stupid and greedy that it would be sooooo easy to fleece them, and after they realize their fleeced, all they will do is whine about it." she was right too. i have not gotten fleeced though because, back in 1981 i started to take steps to keep my ass covered, and now i'm in great shape because, i did all the things the "financial experts" told me not to do. i have said before and i will say again. IT IS TIME FOR REVOLUTION, WE MUST OVERTHROW THE PLUTOCRATS! i strongly doubt that is going to happen...at this time though.
Amen, brother, I want my money back, as well. But instead, we are going to be forced to burn more of our money through Obama's destimulus package. ARRRGGHHHH!!!! So frustrating to see my country slipping down the toilet.
you bet i am. from what i have read, the movie seems to be based on the bcci scandal, that started in the u.k. and spread world wide. it seems quite small time now, but it was a wake up call of what was down the road. it makes me so very, very, angery and sad that over and over again in human history, we pay one hell of a very, very, very high price in disaster for only seeing the short term. will we ever learn from our mastakes and change our ways of behaviour and thinking? it sure does not seem so!
