Posts Tagged ‘kick-backs’

The Perks Game

For years I worked for a stockbroker firm in New York. During my tenure there in the Accounting Department I became very familiar with company perks and “kick-backs”.
Why am I so enamored with this event all of a sudden when it’s been around for centuries?

Well after the US Government bailed out several high profile companies with our hard earned money, there are rumors amok that several offices in these companies are still being “perked”!

It is my understanding that one such CEO received “gross-ups” (where a reimbursement, award or bonus pay is adjusted to account for income tax) on a bonus after the company had received bailout cash. There were also cases where company officers were reimbursed for home renovations and other personal expenses. All of this after the mismanagement of company funds in prior years.

This has prompted the White House to introduce legislation, prohibiting these types of transactions for firms that have received government money under the Bailout agreements.

In my view they should send the lot of them packing. It’s hard enough to sit back and watch some of these Wall Street Vultures get slaps on the wrist for their egregious and selfish actions, when it comes to their clients’ future welfare. I’ve witnessed a lot of these greed-motivated actions first hand and I can tell you it isn’t pretty.

Unfortunately there’s little that we can actually do to stop the “perks game”. Let’s just hope that there’s room left for the “little man” to eke out a living, at the end of the day.