Reply to: Sir Fred Goodwin has 650k p.a. pension for the rest of his life

[Cyberman]

Agree completely that Goodwin is being scape-goated.
The man is a disgusting, greedy plutocrat with little business talent and no vision whose temporary "success" was just the fotunate timing of a rising boom.
Nevertheless in any civilised society a contract is a contract and if his pension was agreed legally it should stand.
The idiots who agreed to it are to blame.
And yes SnotGoblin is deflecting the blame for the economy, which rests squarely on his shoulders.

Brown has already screwed everybody elses pensions, so it really irks him to think that somebody got away !!

[sasguru]

Agree completely that Goodwin is being scape-goated.
The man is a disgusting, greedy plutocrat with little business talent and no vision whose temporary "success" was just the fotunate timing of a rising boom.
Nevertheless in any civilised society a contract is a contract and if his pension was agreed legally it should stand.
The idiots who agreed to it are to blame.
And yes SnotGoblin is deflecting the blame for the economy, which rests squarely on his shoulders.

[ratewhore]

What a cock.

Oh, and while I'm in the zone, this from Guido:

Prescott was on the Today show this morning complaining about Fred the Shred's pension "rewards for failure". How ironic that this is in fact an area of particular expertise for him.

When he was sacked as Deputy PM, for generally being an embarrassing incompetent, he kept hold of his pension perks - including additional pension contributions from taxpayers even though he wasn't working for them. Blair even let him keep two grace-and-favour homes, while stripping him of a of his departmental responsibilities. At the time opposition politicians railed at Prezza's "rewards for failure".

Lord Oakeshott, the LibDem pensions spokesman, said at the time: "First it was two Jags, then two pads. Now it seems we have two pensions Prescott. No fat-cat director in the private sector would dream of awarding himself such a generous pension for a part-time job."

Chris Grayling, accused Blair of misusing taxpayers' money by keeping Prescott in government, said: "Just this extra pension cost to the taxpayer of keeping John Prescott in his position could have paid for four additional nurses. That is without other trappings such as his official residence and his ministerial car."

Even Labour MPs like Geraldine Smith were stunned "I think it is outrageous that the Deputy Prime Minister loses his department but keeps his position, his salary and the perks of the job. It seems absolutely astonishing."

Prezza's pension pot makes him a multi-millionaire, courtesy of the taxpayers.

[ratewhore]

Personally I'd just hope that some redundant ex-employee kicks the living tulip out of the guy so that he's unable to enjoy a meaningful life with his idiotic pension.

Well done. Another well thought out CUK post...

[ferret]

To McDoom until a year or so ago that's exactly what he was, and doing exactly what the Government expected of him, demanded almost.

Anyone letting themselves get worked up over the guy's pension is falling into this scumbag Government's trap, and having their emotions manipulated like pulling a bull by a ring through its nose.

edit: As I said, from Guido's blog:

Fred Goodwin's ludicrous pension is a red herring news of which was released yesterday by government spinners to distract from Lord Adair Turner's damning comments about Brown's pivotal role in the UK banking disaster:

Brown told us not to question banks on risky practices, says City watchdog

Been trying to explain this to Mrs Ferret. Obvious spin and deflection technique, make this guy the baddie so those who allowed it do not get the heat. Think a lot of people will see through this though.

Prescott showed his true colours on R4 this morning. His position is basically Fred Goodwin is not entitled to all of his pension and that HMG should block the payment and let Fred Goodwin sue.

Given that currently there is no legal avenue to block the payment, this amounts to HMG keeping Fred Goodwin's property from him. And this from a man who was deputy prime minister.

It's class driven politics, as it usually is from Prescott. That, and deflection from Govt incompetence...

What a cock.

[foritisme]

The Dailymash is spot on again !

[Mich the Tester]

Prescott showed his true colours on R4 this morning. His position is basically Fred Goodwin is not entitled to all of his pension and that HMG should block the payment and let Fred Goodwin sue.

Given that currently there is no legal avenue to block the payment, this amounts to HMG keeping Fred Goodwin's property from him. And this from a man who was deputy prime minister.

It's class driven politics, as it usually is from Prescott. That, and deflection from Govt incompetence...

I wonder if an alternative is to investigate possibilities for personal liability, such as gross or criminal negligence. I don't think it's just Prescott that's saying this though; all parties were agreed that this pension needs to be stopped somehow.

Personally I'd just hope that some redundant ex-employee kicks the living tulip out of the guy so that he's unable to enjoy a meaningful life with his idiotic pension.

[ratewhore]

Prescott showed his true colours on R4 this morning. His position is basically Fred Goodwin is not entitled to all of his pension and that HMG should block the payment and let Fred Goodwin sue.

Given that currently there is no legal avenue to block the payment, this amounts to HMG keeping Fred Goodwin's property from him. And this from a man who was deputy prime minister.

It's class driven politics, as it usually is from Prescott. That, and deflection from Govt incompetence...

[bobhope]

To McDoom until a year or so ago that's exactly what he was, and doing exactly what the Government expected of him, demanded almost.

Anyone letting themselves get worked up over the guy's pension is falling into this scumbag Government's trap, and having their emotions manipulated like pulling a bull by a ring through its nose.

edit: As I said, from Guido's blog:

Fred Goodwin's ludicrous pension is a red herring news of which was released yesterday by government spinners to distract from Lord Adair Turner's damning comments about Brown's pivotal role in the UK banking disaster:

Brown told us not to question banks on risky practices, says City watchdog

But didn't Brown foresee the current problems ten years ago (yet did nothing about them)?

[threaded]

Highly insightful story from the daily mash here.

[ratewhore]

Apparently Fred has flicked HMG the bird and told em he's keeping his pension. HMG is looking at legal action, however, I fail to see what legal action can be used successfully to take a persons legally entitled pension provision from them.

Fred negotiated a good package. HMG failed to make any changes to said package as part of the bailout. Unlucky.

And, of course, Owlhoot has hit the nail firmly and squarely on the head...

[OwlHoot]

Yes the guy is a hero and a role model. ..

To McDoom until a year or so ago that's exactly what he was, and doing exactly what the Government expected of him, demanded almost.

Anyone letting themselves get worked up over the guy's pension is falling into this scumbag Government's trap, and having their emotions manipulated like pulling a bull by a ring through its nose.

edit: As I said, from Guido's blog:

Fred Goodwin's ludicrous pension is a red herring news of which was released yesterday by government spinners to distract from Lord Adair Turner's damning comments about Brown's pivotal role in the UK banking disaster:

Brown told us not to question banks on risky practices, says City watchdog

[AlfredJPruffock]

Just heard - unfortunately Sir Fred has just met with a fatal accident whilst on a moor walk.

Tragic - dont you think ?

[Cyberman]

I would add though that if you mean that council-pensions are currently fully-funded due to the 25% of council tax paid in every year, this could be true, but in the future this is unsustainable because a greater proportion of council tax will be used each year to this end. There will come a point where council-taxpayers will rebel, especially pensioners on fixed incomes.

[Cyberman]

No, you're wrong. Council pensions are mostly fully funded.

Expat, there is a whacking great big black hole in all pension funds thanks to Broons stealth tax since 1997. There is no way that council-tax pensions are fully-funded, otherwise we would not have seen mass closures of private sector funds which have always been funded on a similar basis, by company and employee contributions. Even the Post Office is now being sold off to fund a 9 Billion pound shortfall in its pension fund.

It is clear that public sector pensions are therefore unsustainable.