[. . .] a lower share of pay in relation to revenues may not tell the whole story. Compensation at banks has risen moderately as a share of revenue in recent decades. But when loan-loss provisions are taken into account, recent pay packages appear a lot more generous. According to FDIC data, compensation as a share of revenue at commercial banks is the highest it’s been in nearly 60 years, after accounting for provisions.

Also: the analysis and adjoining graph apparently consider only the cash portion of compensation.  Which leaves another part out of the story.  Take this, from the JPMorgan story linked above:

A J.P. Morgan official later clarified that “increasing the amount of stock in our cash stock tables across-the-board, but especially for higher paid people, drove [the compensation] ratio down by a point or two more than it other wise would have been.”

Add a point or two more to the shame index, then.

Reuters – White House says Geithner saved U.S. economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Thursday voiced its backing for U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after he endured a grilling before Congress over the costly bailout of insurer AIG, and one lawmaker urged him to resign.

“Secretary Geithner has helped steer the American economy back from the brink, and is now leading the effort on financial reform,” said White House spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, under pressure to show it is serious about tackling the budget deficit, is seizing on an unusual target to showcase fiscal responsibility: the $700 billion financial rescue.

The administration wants to keep some of the unspent funds available for emergencies, but is considering setting aside a chunk for debt reduction, according to people familiar with the matter. It is also expected to lower the projected long-term cost of the program — the amount it expects to lose — to as little as $200 billion from $341 billion estimated in August.

The idea is still a matter of debate within the administration and it is unclear how much impact it would have on the nation’s mounting deficit levels. Still, the potential move illustrates how the Obama administration is trying to find any way it can to bring down the deficit, which is turning into a political as well as an economic liability.

The White House is in the early stages of considering what bigger moves it might make for next year’s budget. The Office of Management and Budget has asked all cabinet agencies, except defense and veterans affairs, to prepare two budget proposals for fiscal 2011, which begins Oct 1, 2010. One would freeze spending at current levels. The other would cut spending by 5%.

During the late seventies and eighties, the domestic auto industry suffered severe losses, while foreign competitors gained larger and larger percentages of the American auto market.

With severe losses came severe job losses; since the 1950’s, unemployment rates in Michigan have consistently surpassed national averages in times of recession due to its floundering auto industry. For instance, 1982 unemployment rates averaged around 15 percent, 60 percent above the national average.

These job losses have continued into the new millennium. Michigan suffered six straight years of job losses through 2006, and many of those losses were in manufacturing, 70 percent of which were in the auto industry. However, Americans continue to reminisce about the domestic auto industry’s glory days, when manufacturing jobs could provide a good wage and a good pension.

Today, manufacturing jobs in America’s auto industry continue to offer good wages and good pensions, in you can find yourself a job. However, the industry’s unwillingness to produce fuel-efficient vehicles has failed the Big Three.

Meanwhile, another auto industry has been taking root in America’s backcountry.

In the past two decades, a foreign auto industry has built itself up in southern states.  This foreign industry – some call them the “Little Eight” – has succeeded in producing automobiles that Americans want to buy, and is non-union. In 2007, the foreign automakers directly employed more than 97,000 workers, according to the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers.  These jobs then support local steel and rubber industries, as well as auto dealers.

Foreign automakers indirectly employed nearly 575,000 workers, in 2007, compared to the Big Three, who employ 240,000 workers.Therefore, the numbers would suggest that America does not need a domestic auto industry.  However, there is more than numbers behind the argument opposing the government’s bailouts of the domestic auto industry.

As of mid-May, the auto bailout has run up a bill of more than $80 billion, or more than $250 per American.

That is $80 billion not spent on healthcare, public education, or infrastructure.

The American government has teamed up with the Big Three to subsidize a shrinking industry, which will compete with a growing industry that employs hundreds of thousands of Americans. Who will benefit from this?  Surely, not the American people or the American economy.

In a globalizing world, America’s economy will have to be retooled if it is to compete with foreign economies. America is no longer a hub of global manufacturing; those jobs have been outsourced and are not likely to return. Therefore, the energy of the American people and the American government must be directed in the direction of growing industries; a good start would be to invest in the electrical grid and in public education. 

Education will be a key factor in determining the success of America’s economy in the decades to come. Instead of keeping afloat a sinking auto industry, our government should be working to provide its citizens with higher educations and training programs for the jobs of tomorrow.

America is a strong and vibrant nation, and is greatly benefited by the productivity and work ethic of the American worker. If this energy can be used to create new industries, and new jobs, then America’s economy will prosper.

To accomplish this, President Obama must let old industries go by the wayside, leaving a void for new industries and economic growth.