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Bailout Cost to Taxpayers Increases to $34 Billion

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Almost everyone is aware that American taxpayers have funded the bailout of numerous banks and other companies.  The list of bailed out banks and financial institutions includes well-known ones such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Discover and many, many others.  The most recent estimate of government losses from the bailout has nearly doubled, and is now estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to reach $34 billion dollars.

Despite staggering losses, some of these banks gave massive bonuses to their executives during the last few years.  Citi provides several examples of such corporate greed.  Its CEO, Vikram Pandit, received total compensation of more than $38 million for 2008-2010.  Its Chief Financial Officer (CFO John Gerspach) received more than $9.7 million for 2009-2010.  Two other Citi executives received more than $20 million for 2009-2010.  Another executive received more than $8 million only for 2010.  During the 2008-2010 time period, however, Citigroup posted a cumulative net loss of more than $15 billion dollars.

One can only wonder how many Citibank consumers in dire financial straits could have benefited from the bailout money provided to Citi by American taxpayers, or how many senior citizens could have used even a small percentage of Citi’s executive compensation to put food on their table.