Our introduction to the Treasury Department official in charge of the $700 billion bailout fund -- Who will spend our $700 billion? Meet 35-year-old Neel Kashkari -- generated a lot of interest and commentary. Many of the comments have been negative and cover a wide range of fear and loathing, from cracks about Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) running the country and stealing all the money, to insults directed at Kashkari's lack of hair and ethnic background. (For the record, his family is from India, not Iran, and Neel is apparently a Hindu name, not a Muslim one, although I haven't found any definitive proof of his religious background.)
Looking around the web, I found lots of talk about Kashkari, including one curious comment at Huffington Post that Kashkari has a special arrangement with respect to his salary. Somehow, according to this commentator, Goldman Sachs is paying him billions of dollars to do his job. He will supposedly collect these riches when he steps down, presumably after having rendered super-secret services to the financial oligarchs who apparently own our country.
The writer of the comment offered no proof, and I have to admit that I'm a little skeptical (about the salary, not the oligarchy). But it did get me thinking about how much government officials are being paid to handle all this bailout money.
According to this Bloomberg report, Kashkari earned $738,000 in salary and bonus at Goldman before joining his former boss Hank Paulson at Treasury in July 2006. His title is now Assistant Secretary (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Economics and Development, to be precise) and he is, obviously, a federal employee now. So he must earn the standard salary for an Assistant Secretary.
Now, I've read that Paulson makes $191,300 per year as Treasury Secretary. Looking at the federal government's 2008 salary table for executives, I see that $191,300 corresponds to Level I executive pay. And this certainly makes sense, since Level I is the highest level. It also makes sense that an Assistant Secretary would make a bit less. The executive pay salary table includes five levels in all:
|
Level I |
191300 |
|---|---|
|
Level II |
172200 |
|
Level III |
158500 |
|
Level IV |
149000 |
|
Level V |
139600 |
And it seems like a pretty good bet that Kashkari's salary is defined by one of the lower levels. This means that he makes between $139,600 and $172,200 per year.
This revelation may come as a disappointment to the conspiracy-minded among us, or may inspire some to become even more paranoid as they imagine the ways in which Treasury officials are making off with the loot to make up for their measly (by banker standards) salaries. But keep in mind that Paulson was already a fantastically wealthy man from his days at Goldman and so hardly needs his federal pay. Kashkari was no doubt very well paid but nowhere near so wealthy. Even so, his acceptance of a lower pay to work at Treasury isn't so shocking. For one thing, in his mind he's doing both his country and his former boss a great service in helping to bring the financial crisis to an end. And given that the effects of this crisis are likely to be felt for years to come, he is also setting himself up for some far richer paydays when he returns to the private sector -- a return that may be only weeks away, if the Republicans lose the White House.
Of course, I'd be happy to update this post to reflect new information. Anyone out there have proof that Kashkari is somehow being paid more?
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
11-02-2008 @ 5:59AM
JOE COOL said...
IT REALLY SUCKS US AMERICANS WORK OUR ASSES OFF FOR THIS COUNTRY, AND THE FEDERAL GOVERMENT LOOKS LIKE ITS RUN BY A BUNCH OF HEADLESS CHICKENS!
11-11-2008 @ 4:42AM
BHarrison said...
As the French philosopher Rousseau stated: "People have the government that they deserve . . ." The apathetic Americans have allowed our INEPT, INCOMPETENT, and CORRUPT Congress to be bought by the elitist corporate special interests. In the past, the majority of the American people haven't bothered to vote, and ignored what has been going on. They were too self absorbed in their petty lives, and convinced that "everything would continue on as usual.
Basically, we have the same corporate managment and Congressmen, who allowed this economic debacle to occur, in charge of the "recovery efforts". These people are mostly concerned with trying to maintain the old status quo (for insolvent corporations) and protecting THEIR positions of power and wealth.
These are unprecedented times and events . . . and of "nation altering" magnitude. We now have the "foxes in charge of investigating the slaughters at the hen houses, and putting things back into order . . ." That simply will not work. And yet the American voters re-elect the likes of Barney Frank, Ms Pelosi, etc. back to Congress.
The ONLY SALVATION will be a return to the integrity of the 1950s type of work ethics . . . and I don't know if that is possible. The lack of persoanl accuntability for our political and corporate leaders is untenable. We need the American equivalent of China's past "Cultural Revolution" to purge our corporations and government of corrupt individuals . . . we should start by IMPEACHING George Bush and Dick Cheney before they leave office . . . and then start on Congressmen.