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May 12th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Stephen Hester is target for anger over fat-cat pay
- Tells school pupil ‘I want to be well paid’
- Says he came within inches of quitting due to bonus row
By
James Salmon
19:07 EST, 11 May 2012
|
19:23 EST, 11 May 2012
He owns a £7million home, earns £1.2million a year running a bank bailed out by the taxpayer and reluctantly bowed to pressure and declined a £963,000 bonus.
But Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester says ‘life is not about money’.
Mr Hester told pupils at a South London school that life ‘is about doing things that make you feel valuable, not necessarily measured by money’.
Controversial: Stephen Hester, 51, who hates this picture being used, has been criticised for his fat-cat pay
But he added: ‘Like it or not, money is one of the things that motivates people.’
Mr Hester, 51, has become a lightning rod for anger over fat-cat pay, attracting criticism for his lavish lifestyle despite presiding over a bank that was bailed out with £45.5billion of taxpayers’ money.
Last month he invited the public to see the manicured 350-acre gardens of his £7million home, just outside Banbury in Oxfordshire.
In January, after weeks of holding out, the controversial bank boss waived his bonus for last year after intense media and political pressure.
Asked by a pupil at Dunraven School in Streatham whether he declined his bonus because he thought it was immoral, Mr Hester replied: ‘I want to be paid well – I have no hesitation about saying that.
‘There’s no morality involved and it allows me to pay a large amount of tax for other things to be done.’
Mr Hester branded criticism of his pay ‘unfair’ and said he ‘came within inches of quitting’ during the row over his bonus.
Anger: A string of companies, including Barclays, insurance giant Aviva,
publishing group Trinity Mirror and Britain’s biggest car dealer
Pendragon, have faced rebellions from shareholders over boardroom greed
He added: ‘We are in a time of high emotion, people looking for things to blame.
‘If you have a high-profile job as I have, at times you get caught in the swirls of politics.
‘It was a tsunami at the time, I think it caught me unfairly, but nevertheless I’m a volunteer in this job; you have to deal with what it throws you.’
A string of companies, including Barclays, insurance giant Aviva, publishing group Trinity Mirror and Britain’s biggest car dealer Pendragon, have faced rebellions from shareholders over boardroom greed.
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott says RBS should lend small businesses money so they can employ young people
RBS, which is 82 per cent owned by taxpayers and plunged to a £2billion loss last year, will face its shareholders at its annual meeting later this month.
Asked whether the reputation of bankers could be restored, Mr Hester said: ‘People have hated money lenders for thousands of years.’
The RBS chief’s unapologetic words resulted in a fresh salvo from his critics.
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott said: ‘What would make small businesses feel valuable is if RBS could lend them the money so they can employ young people.’
High Pay Centre chairman Deborah Hargreaves said: ‘It’s a bit rich of Hester to say this when he employs eight gardeners to keep his 350-acre landscaped garden.
‘He should remember he is talking to people who won’t earn in a lifetime what he earns in a year. He makes a strong case for cutting pay across the board.’
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He did not tell the truth, life for him and his cronies is about obscene greed.
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I get what everyone is saying here about how it’s easy for him to say that etc etc and I agree… But why is this guy getting given so much stick just because he is paid well? Wouldn’t we all (well most of us) like to earn a huge pay packet like that? Wouldn’t we all like to make sure our families are secure and looked after? The guy has worked to get where he is! He isn’t a plastic celebrity or socialite, he’s a man who has worked to the position he is in, yes he’s a boss of a bank but he’s not one of the bosses like Fred Goodwin or Andy Hornby whos decisions contributed to the credit crunch and ultimate nationalisation of RBS and Lloyds. The reality is his pay is in line with his job role and anyone who can’t accept that needs to get over themselves.
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Why is it always people with plenty of it that say that?
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He could always give the money to British charities to prove he’s telling the truth. There is a limit to how much money you do actually need just as there’s a limit to how little you can live on.
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He said this at a school. Suppose he gave them a “Greed is good” speech like Gordon Gecko!
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He’s right! A hypocrite, but right!
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As usual no sense in article just publicly accepted scaremongering just to please popular opinion. There’s no truth involved. Yes, we want rewarding job we can enjoy, challenge, and good pay. You do not work for money you work for results. If you get them, you get the money. Same with investment etc. Common sense – NOT FOUND
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I see the usual trolls are out in force. Stephen Hester was a sucessful businessman before he was recruited to get the RSB back on its feet. He has worked his butt off all his life – have you??. You show the same old photo of him in hunting rig just to get a stir from the thicko’s. Blame common as muck Fred the shred for the mess!!
As for Penelope in Canberra saying you need a an newly qualified economics and sociology major to do the job – what planet are you on child??
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No- it isn’t, or rather, it SHOULDN’T HAVE to be, but sometimes when you are so poor you might have less than a dollar available until pay day in 4 days time, it consumes your every waking hour, of which there are many when you have children to feed.
This ‘man’ is a pig in posh clothes and should keep his opinions, as he does his fortune, to himself. He should be replaced by a newly qualified economics major with a background in sociology and no background of wealth and entitlement.
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Of course its not!!! Mmmmmm these ppl make u sick! Greedy is the word but then again if you get offered that money youre gunna take it!
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