Quote: Claire McCaskill on Wall Street Bonuses

Let me review. These financial institutions on the brink of extinction come to the American taxpayer for hundreds and billions of dollars at the very same time they think they’re going to buy a $50 million corporate jet. They’re going to pay out $18 billion in bonuses. They paid an average of $2.6 million to every executive at the first 116 banks that got taxpayer money under TARP. Let me say that again. An average of $2.6 million in executive pay to the folks at the first 116 banks that got money from the taxpayers. They don’t get it. These people are idiots.

You can’t use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses. Merrill Lynch is unbelievable. They saved $3 billion to $4 billion from the pot of money that was going to Bank of America. The sale is going to close the first week in January. They always gave bonuses in January. You know what these sneaky guys did? They decided to give their bonuses in December before Bank of America took over – paid out $3 billion to $4 billion in bonuses in December and that quarter Merrill Lynch lost $21 billion. What planet are these people on? What could they be thinking about? – Senator Claire McCaskill

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