Wednesday, May 20, 2009

"Bank executives profiting on the death of employees?"

Clark Howard says it better than me:

Bank executives at Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase are benefiting financially from the deaths of their employees, according to a shocking report in The Wall Street Journal.

What they've done is to take out life insurance on their rank and file. This insurance is used as a tax dodge and it pays bonuses to their key executives when an employee dies.

Worse still, American taxpayers subsidize this special tax break that funnels tax-free income to the big cheeses that are named as the beneficiaries. This should be a criminal act of tax evasion, according to Clark.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America and Wells Fargo both have $17 billion each in these life insurance policies. Chase has $11 billion.

So if an underling dies, do they have a party to celebrate the money they make? The employee's family gets nothing, not a cent.

Last week, there was proposal to take away this tax deduction. That's too little, too late. It should be a criminal offense. Period.

In one recent court case centering on this controversial policy, a former bank employee died after being fired. Then a check showed up at his residence for $1.6 million. But the check was made out to the bank, not the late employee's widow. It turns out the insurance company mis-mailed it!!

Disgusting, reprehensible and unacceptable, according to Clark. The giant banks must be dismantled. We need a serious anti-trust law here.

No comments: