Kevin Drum of Mother Jones notes that Gene Sperling, an economist who is up to replace Larry Summers as head of the National Economic Council, has been paid $137,500 a year to write a 900-word monthly column for Bloomberg News.
Drum writes, “Felix Salmon isn’t too impressed with any of the three main candidates to replace Larry Summers as head of the NEC. Roger Altman and Richard Levin both have substantial ties to Wall Street, and then:
Finally there’s Sperling, who in some ways is the worst of the three when it comes to grubbing money from Wall Street. The other two have well-defined and easily-understood jobs; Sperling, by contrast, signed up with the Harry Walker Agency and started giving speeches to anybody with cash, including not only Citigroup but even Allen Stanford. He also wrote a monthly 900-word column for Bloomberg for $137,500 a year, which works out at about $13 per word.
“This really brings things home to a scribbler like me. Being paid a million bucks a year for some kind of ill-defined financial ‘consulting’ is one thing. I don’t really know anything about what that entails. But writing? I know all about that, and $11,000 for an op-ed is a wee bit excessive, no? At least, it is if it’s really just the writing you’re paying for.”
Read more here.
Wirecutter editorial director Lauren Sullivan sent out the following: I’m elated to announce that Maxine Builder, a…
"Morning Brew" and Yahoo Finance are partnering to include Yahoo’s market data in the “Markets”…
Modern Healthcare has hired Bridget Early to cover health care regulators. She is currently a health care reporter…
Bloomberg Industry Group seeks a junior reporter to cover environmental litigation. Performs general assignment and…
The Star Tribune is seeking an accomplished, motivated and versatile journalist and leader to shape…
The Deputy AME-Business is responsible for the development and planning of coverage on all Newsday…
View Comments
Sperling's pay wasn't first reported by Felix Salmon. It was first reported by Robert Schmidt of Bloomberg News. See below. Thanks.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abo3Zo0ifzJg