Most here have no clue about capitalism, or economics.
I agree the Unions, and the Banks, and their shareholders should have never been bailed out, so why did they do it?
It's inexcusable for the shareholders to be getting rich off the backs of the average tax payer who doesn't even own a 401K. Think of it; hamburger flippers bailing out millionaires.
It's greed, but punishing the most talented (highest paid) people isn't right either, and it will only result in them going off shore to make their millions, and the general public probably doesn't even realize that these pay cuts are only a minuscule part of the TARP money.
TARP was $800 BN if I remember correctly, and then there is TARP 2.
And if we assume these executives make $100 Million per year, and we take 90% of that... 100 million is only 10% of 1 billion, so it's only a fraction of 1%.
Maybe it's a diversion, since the general public has no clue about how much money Goldman Sachs made this year.