One of the unsung heroes of the 2008 Financial Crisis came from Goldman Sachs. He was the guy that Hank Paulson brought over with him to run things at Treasury.
This is a smart guy, and when everything blew up, and Congress created the TARP program, it was this right hand man who was put in charge to run it.
Now TARP — or Troubled Asset Relief Program—as much as it was good for my friends on Wall Street, it actually placed some overbearing burdens on them as well.
Because they got billions in taxpayer money Congress said that until they paid the money back, lowered their risky asset factor, got new private capital to strengthen their balance sheet and clawed back compensation from people who had been overpaid and caused this mess — there would be no bonuses…
Who do they think they are—no bonuses?
Well…the FED did all it could. It figured out it could create a number of ways to get money to Wall Street at no cost to Wall Street and they could use that money to pay back the TARP fund.
But then there were those other restrictions, and they weren’t so easy to get around. So…in steps the brilliant right hand man—Neel Kashkari and Neel figures why not use my discretionary power and waive those other restrictions? So he did. And everybody got paid and nobody got their previous compensation clawed back.
Neel Kashkari.
With a name like that you know that he made sure that the boys on Wall Street got their needs met, each and every time. And now he’s gone from Treasury and back to making real money with a ton of new friends.