In March of this year, CNNMoney.com announced that Lehman Brothers Inc. Chairman and CEO Richard Fuld received total compensation of more than $22 million as “the company weathered the subprime mortgage collapse better than its rivals.” Fuld also earned an additional $40-plus million from exercising stock options, plus several smaller bonuses of a few million, on top of his regular salary of $750,000.
The article goes on to state how fortunate Fuld is in a financial climate which has seen a number of other top executives either resign or have to pass up lucrative bonuses due to the unstable real estate market. CNNMoney also praised Fuld for his leadership which allowed Lehman Brothers to weather the losses suffered by so many others, noting that its shares skyrocketed, closing out 2007 at $87.53.
And yet Monday, Wall Street was left reeling as Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing assets of more than $600 billion along with debts of more than $600 billion. The stock market began falling at the sound of the opening bell, and continued throughout the day. Lehman Brothers has the dubious distinction of being the largest bankruptcy in our nation’s history.
Four months ago, they were fine, but Monday, everything fell apart? How can it be possible that a company so fiscally responsible for more than 150 years, whose financial backing was instrumental in founding the cotton exchange, the building of the nation’s railroads, movie industry, and computer technology companies, and who were the first to finance up and comers such as Sears Roebuck, Macy’s and Gimbel’s, could fall so far, so fast.
Somewhere along the way, Lehman Brothers apparently fell victim to its own prosperity, forgetting all of the lessons learned when it weathered the Civil War, both World Wars and the stock market crash of 1929. Rather than continuing the sound financial policies the company was founded on, Lehman Brothers grew too large, paid its top executives far too much, financed risky ventures, and worst of all for a well-respected, worldwide financial services company, didn’t foresee and forestall its own financial future.
Congress has been talking for several years, ever since the Enron days, about taking on CEO compensation, especially when the lucrative bonuses come so close to a company’s major financial crash. Maybe now that this giant has fallen, Congress will finally do what it’s been promising and get tough on those who personally benefit while others lose their life savings and livelihoods.
What We Think
OUR OPINION: Financial failings are moral failings
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Grading policy: A second chance?
In clarifying the Lowndes County Schools’ controversial grading policy, Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith spoke of second chances.
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Be up to any weather challenge
Georgia’s Severe Weather Awareness Week starts today and runs through Friday. The idea behind the week is to prepare Georgians for weather emergencies and how to keep these situations from becoming tragedies.
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Parents and schools
There is a lot of talk lately about school systems and grading policies, and how all of a child's problems come back to a lack of parenting. But is it really that simple? Can it be a case where the school systems are so focused on the problem few that the majority of students are ignored?
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Thumbs up, thumbs down
THUMBS UP: To Brooks County High School engineering and technology teacher Don Morgan and his students. They recently received national attention for their work with biodiesel fuel. They collect used cooking oil from area fast-food restaurants then process this oil into biodiesel. Morgan hopes to next interest the Brooks County school buses into running on the fuel created in his class. This classroom not only prepares students for the future but may prepare all of us for an alternative energy source.
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Take me out to the ball park
The Valdosta State baseball season begins today. The Blazers host Lindenwood at 2:30 p.m. Nothing beats quality baseball played in warm weather with a great venue like Billy Grant Field.
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What We Think: Signing Day
Wednesday was National Signing Day, the day when high school athletes across the country make official announcements about what school they’ve chosen to sign with.
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School policy fails expectations
Lowndes County Schools recently implemented new grading guidelines for students. These guidelines have left many parents upset ...
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Just the facts, please
The Times has taken some hits this weekend following the reporting of the Rev. Floyd Rose’ rally on Saturday concerning the car which drove into a home, killing an infant on New Year’s, and an incident at Pinevale Learning Center. Some police officers think the VDT is not being fair, and Rose accused the VDT of not printing the facts, but the facts are as follows:
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Fathers teaching daughters
It began as a small gathering for fathers and daughters. It has become one of Valdosta’s most popular social events of the year.
Several years ago, Jeff Stewart co-founded the event with his wife, Becky, as a way for him to give a special night to his two daughters. Other fathers of First Presbyterian Church liked the idea and the Father-Daughter Valentine Dance was born. -
Sports tourneys: They will come
More than 20 years after its release, “Field of Dreams’” mantra, “If you build it, they will come,” has possibly become one of the most overused lines from any movie. Yet, it seems all too fitting for what’s been happening lately within the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority.
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Grading policy: A second chance?
