The 116 banks that are receiving billions in taxpayer-provided bailout money this year actually paid out $1.6 billion in compensation and benefits to their top executives last year – even though the results at some of these institutions were so poor that they would soon have to turn to Washington for a government-engineered rescue.The $1.6 billion was paid out to nearly 600 executives at the 116 banks that have so far accepted federal money to bolster their financial foundations, The Associated Press concluded after a review of U.S. securities filings. In addition to salary, the compensation included bonuses paid in both cash and stock. The benefits reaped by top executives included the use of company jets for personal purposes, personal chauffeurs, home-security services, country-club memberships and professional-wealth-management services, the news service said.U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a longtime critic of the fat pay packages given to U.S. executives, said the bonuses and perks tallied by The AP review amounted to a bribe paid “to get [CEOs] to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.”“Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can,” Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee, told the news service. But “we’re told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!”The AP review is just the latest in a series of media investigations that have questioned the effectiveness of – and banks’ commitment to – the so-called “Troubled Assets Relief Program” (TARP), part of an overall $700 billion bailout plan that was originally unveiled in late September.The plan was originally conceived to boost the strength of U.S. financial institutions by having the federal government purchase non-performing mortgages and other bad assets. In November, the Bush administration changed TARP’s objectives, instructing the U.S. Treasury Department to pump tax dollars directly into banks in a bid to prevent wholesale economic collapse.Ideally, TARP was supposed to jumpstart bank-to-bank and bank-to-consumer lending, helping to unfreeze a credit crisis that may be the worst the U.S. economy has experienced since the Great Depression. But that hasn’t happened. Instead, as a Money Morning investigation has shown, banks are using the money to buy other banks in a dual effort to build market share for when the economy recovers, and to perhaps make themselves “too big to fail” in the interim, many experts say.TARP did set restrictions on some executive compensation for participating banks, but it did not limit salaries and bonuses unless they had the effect of encouraging excessive risk to the institution. Banks were barred from presenting so-called “golden parachute” financial packages to departing or ousted executives and from deducting some executive pay for tax purposes.The AP study found that the 116 banks received $188 billion in TARP money. The study also discovered that:
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Banks That Got $188 Billion in Bailout Money This Year Paid Out $1.6 Billion to Top Execs Last Year
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010How much money can help you power game faster in Tibia
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 Tibia players often careful the important it is how to be rich and what advantages having tibia money can gain in the game. Having lots of gold means lots of advantages. Being rich and having a lot of money means more power, better equipment and more runes.
Let’s take your equipment for example. Being able to buy expensive and strong equipment will gain you the advantage of not wasting as much ultimate healing runes whilst on your hunts, as you would if you had poor equipment.. Having a better attack weapon will help you kill tibia creatures faster, again wasting less UH’s.
But how much money can help you power game faster ?
Having money is the most important for power gaming. Why? More fun hunts, better loot and of course faster experience. Let’s take a sorcerer as an example. A level 60 Master Sorcerer can hunt rotworms for hours upon end. He/She will advance from level 60 to level 61 in possibly 12 hours of hunting. The Sorcerer will make a nice profit on gold (around 10k gp) and not waste any runes. They will also be able to make approximately one backpack of sudden death runes. However the exhaustion of this hunt and boredom is enough to send anybody crazy.
Now if the same level 60 sorcerer was extremely rich and lots of money. They could take a few hundred backpacks of Heavy Magic Missiles and 20 Backpacks of Manas to the Hydra spawn or Dragon Lords. The Sorcerer can then ask a friend (knight) to block the hydras and pay for all of the Knights Ultimate healing runes and make the agreement that the Sorcerer gets to keep all the loot. If the Sorcerer was then to hunt for 12 hours, constantly killing Hydras they could (providing the respawn was good) advance to level 65.
The more ways to make tibia gold than loot bags .
Many tibia players are in need of more cash, especially fair players. Although making lootbags is probably the very best method of getting large amounts of cash – it is definitely not the most fun. In this section we have lots of how to’s and guides to make tibia money in more ways than just lootbagging!
Travel For Money In 3 Easy Steps
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010Traveling for money, it is one of the most rewarding things to do. You get to earn money while exploring the world. Imagine yourself in the Bahamas, enjoying the atmosphere as part of your job or having an adventure in Australia while getting paid doing it or practicing your vocation in the most scenic locations in Hawaii.
It is almost unbelievable but in reality it’s almost easy to accomplish. You can get rich from your travels. Contrary to common belief, traveling does not have to mean empty pockets; it can actually fill your bank account. With the right knowledge and skills regardless of experience, you can profit from your travels.
How to do it? There are three ways to make money on the trot
1) Find a job that involves travel
Travel jobs are immensely abundant. The travel and tourism industry covers a vast range of job positions in various fields. Degree and non-degree holders alike can find a job with relative ease because of the diversity and vast number of positions available. However, it can be competitive especially for jobs with very high pay.
To get travel jobs, one must know where to look and how to apply properly. Having the right attitude and personality is also crucial. Normally, travel and tourism jobs require excellent interpersonal skills. Other skills involved are communication, organization, and managerial skills.
Health care professionals, especially nurses, are in demand in a lot of travel destinations and this includes Hawaii, Alaska, Australia, and many other places. Cruise Ship jobs are also plentiful and almost anyone can land a position on a cruise liner. Teaching English overseas is another great option.
One great thing about travel jobs is that even without formal education you can work and climb the career ladder. Although educated individuals will land high paying travel jobs easier, the industry does not limit hiring blue collar skilled workers. Almost anyone can make a terrific living while having a cool job.
2) Become a freelancer and let companies finance your job-related travels and pay for your services as well
If you have skills in photography, you can contract some interested companies with your services. The companies will sometimes sponsor your travel expenses and may even pay you further for your services. In exchange, you provide them the quality photos they need for their business.
Also, you can become a freelance journalist or correspondent. You are getting paid to do a job and luckily for you, it involves travel. There are a variety of skill dependent travel jobs. You can work as a freelancer which is quite rewarding both in experience and finance.
3) Have an Internet money-making machine that is fueled by your travels
You can create a site with content about travel and living. You can blog about your exploits and encounters. People will take notice and with technical implementation of SEO and link building, you will soon have a lot of visitors and your traffic will increase. You can make money by selling ad space in your site. Being an Internet affiliate marketer is also a great option. This is a form of passive income and probably, because it is automatic, it’s the best kind of income you can get.