Some anti-tax activists and Tea Partiers may be outraged that any town is granting workers raises. But maybe the disgruntled should focus their wrath on Jamie Dimon, the high-flying bank executive at JPMorgan Chase who received a 64 percent pay hike in 2010, earning $20.8 million.
This is the same JPMorgan that received $25 billion in bailout money from the federal government during the 2008-09 meltdown on Wall Street.
And this is the same JPMorgan that played a major role in that meltdown by providing financing to three of the worst offenders in the subprime loan debacle – Countrywide, Ameriquest and Washington Mutual.
And this is the same JP Morgan that paid its top five executives $260 million in bonuses in the 10 years leading up to the housing bubble’s burst.
Financial analysts credit CEO Dimon with steering his bank through the tumult relatively unscathed, so the JPMorgan board apparently saw fit to boost the boss’ total compensation from $12.7 million in 2009 to $20.8 million last year.
According to an Associated Press analysis of data filed with regulators on Thursday, Dimon received a salary of $1 million, a cash bonus of $5 million, stock awards of $7.9 million, and stock options worth $6.2 million for the year. He also received perks worth $579,624, which included the use of an aircraft and a car, and reimbursements related to the difficulties he encountered selling his spacious Chicago home.
