AP has reviewed the compensation for the executives of the banks and financial institutions that our tax dollars bailed out. Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits to top execs in 2007. So while their companies were going down the tubes, the executives were making sure that they were taken care of.
Merrill Lynch Chairman and CEO John Thain, left, earned a $15 million signing bonus and an additional $68 million in stock options since starting his post in late 2007. Merrill lost $7.8 billion last year. It got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28.
Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company’s top five executives received a total of $242 million. The company received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28.