A new report came out today from the Special Inspector General charged with auditing the government's TARP program for foundering financial institutions. According to the report, which you can read in full below, the "Special Master" appointed to curb executive pay at companies getting TARP money wasn't all that special after all. Although President Obama and Congress wanted pay caps of $500K for executives at seven companies that got bailed out, 49 fat cats still got paid $5 million or more between 2009 and 2011. Here's why, according to the audit: more ›

If you were wondering why Republicans fought tooth and nail this summer to keep corporate tax loopholes off the bargaining table during the debt-ceiling negotiations, it's because the CEOs of those companies make lots of money shirking their tax responsibilities. A report conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies found that "25 major U.S. corporations last year paid their chief executives more than they paid Uncle Sam in federal income taxes." Tax rebates didn't come from low profits, but from "aggressive corporate tax-dodging" using overseas tax shelters and exploiting loopholes. more ›

Previously we told you that it was time to make a career move to the MTA. Sure, the hours are long, but you could while them away with dreaming of your massive pension. Forget that: public education, now that's where the money is. Bloomberg News reports that Long Island school superintendent James Hunderfund is entitled to a net salary of around $540,000 from the combination of his $316K pension he earned at a previous job along with his current $225K salary from the Malverne school district. more ›

With the state legislature back in office after their nine-day Easter break, the Working Families Party rallied yesterday in demand for taxes on Wall Street bonuses. They argue that a two-year tax could generate up to $6.9 billion a year for the state, which they could invest in things like health care and making MTA services less of a nightmare. Party director Dan Cantor told legislators the tax would be "a matter of basic fairness." more ›

An outraged group of Wall Street brokers are finally fed up with feeling the government's oppressive boot on their necks, and they're getting organized to fight for their rights. Yesterday over two dozen brokers and traders held a rally to announce their new organization, Restore Wall Street, which is devoted to "bringing the pride back into Wall Street." You've got it all, Wall! Can a Fun Run be far behind? The rally/publicity stunt was held during lunch on the 23rd floor of 14 Wall Street, because, as one executive simply put it, "It’s cold out." more ›

The holidays have passed, but Christmas actually arrives in late January on Wall Street, when the brave men and women of American finance receive their enormous bonus checks. When confronted with a gigantic bag stuffed with American tax dollars, most people would probably find their mind turning to questions like "does that yacht come in blue?" or "is that the biggest Rolex you have?"— but not the lords of Wall Street. They've got a bigger problem: how to make these bonuses seem perfectly normal and not at all a major scandal to the American people. more ›

The New York Times thinks so; the company's own payment rules bar execs from getting over $3 million in bonuses and 400,000 stock options. Yet publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and CEO Janet Robinson have both been paid under a plan that allows for $3.5 million in bonuses and over half a million stock options. Maybe that seems a tad excessive, but it's been a stressful year for the Times execs, what with all the staff cuts and ad losses they've sustained, so leave Pinch alone! more ›

Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of people from different activist groups marched in the Financial District to protest the multi-billion dollar bailouts financial firms have received from the government as well as demand jobs for Americans who aren't financial executives. Bail Out The People organized the event, and spokesman Dustin Langley told Reuters, "This crisis is growing more dire everyday with so many people being kicked out of their home and jobs." Langley also told the Daily News, "An economic crisis isn't an AIG executive not having enough money to pay for his house on the Riviera. An economic crisis is all the American families that can't afford to put food on their tables." more ›

Today, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo held a press conference on Wall Street, announcing his investigation of AIG's expenditures since 2007. You can read the letter he sent them here (PDF), but he does call their spending "unwarranted and outrageous" and asks the Board of Directors "to cease and desist any such further expenditures, and review, rescind, and recover all past unreasonable expenditures." more ›

You'd think that after AIG was bailed out to the tune of $85 billion by the feds, executives would be morally chastened to watch their spending. But no: During today's testimony to the House Oversight Committee, the NY Times reports that a week after the bailout, "executives at its life insurance subsidiary, AIG General, held a weeklong retreat at the exclusive St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif. Expenses for the week, lawmakers were told, totaled $442,000, including $200,000 for hotel rooms, $150,000 for food and $23,000 in spa charges." more ›