Most people are lamenting the loss of billions across the planet including retirement money, loss of jobs and continued coddling of Wall Street executives who brought us to this point but sure, let's focus on the lost tax income. With this keen attention on the big picture, sounds like NY will do well with Paterson at the helm.
Underscoring how closely the fates of Wall Street and New York are intertwined, Gov. David Paterson said Friday that a single moment in the financial crisis — the decision by Goldman Sachs executives to forgo bonuses — cost the state $178 million.What ever would we do if the "top talent" who brought us to this point was to leave? The world might come to an end, probably within minutes, because they are so valuable to the system. Please, please, please don't go.
The executives complied with the urging of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and others who said in November that major Wall Street companies benefiting from federal bailouts shouldn't pay out the usual huge bonuses to executives.
Paterson says it was the right thing to do, but the result is a further hit to the fiscal crisis of state government.
"Things could go even more south in a big hurry," Paterson told reporters.
Losing tax revenue from bonuses was a big hit to New York's finances because Wall Street taxes accounted for 30 percent of state revenue in the last fiscal quarter.
"I think it was the right urge," he said, but "the state lost $178 million in that moment."
The decision by Goldman Sachs' top executives to forgo bonuses in 2008 forced other investment bank bosses to follow suit. Thousands of lower-tier brokers will still collect their hefty bonuses, however, because their employers don't want to lose their top talent.
