Don't you just love this cartoon? It is a pretty accurate portrayal of the forces that move Wall Street. These days the weasels are running rampant.
Yesterday Barack Obama, using the presidential bully pulpit, blasted Wall Street bankers who received millions of dollars in bonuses last year calling the payouts "shameful". Here are some of the details from the NY Times article that the president was referencing:
Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.It appalls me that President Bush and the US congress (both sides of the political aisle including then Senator Obama) doled out all of that cash last fall with no stipulations on how it would be used. On the flip side, the greedy actions of corporate execs giving themselves these outrageous bonuses give Calvinists more evidence of the total depravity of man.
That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller.
While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.
Some bankers took home millions last year even as their employers lost billions.
Didn't they just get 300 billion for free?! That's pretty impressive banking. I think they deserve those bonuses. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf you give a junkie $10,000 in order that he might get his life straightened out - guess what???
ReplyDeleteToo much blame on the junkies and not enough on the flunkies!
... and if BHO isn't careful with his dash to the left, he will end up on the flunkie list as well.
I spent about 20 years in corporate sales. I think I understand a little about incentive pay. I understand commissions and bonuses and why they are important to motivate employees.
ReplyDeleteBut, in all of my years in sales, bonuses were based on performance. Hit a number, get a bonus. Perform a task, get a bonus. Bonuses to people who have lost millions or billions of dollars for their companies are not bonuses, they are handouts.
The argument that the bonuses must be paid or they will lose their beset employees is just bogus. Where are they going to go in this economic environment?
This is another example of the good old boys taking care of each other and it sickens me. This is also an example of why us "lefties" say the market is a good thing. But, there must be restrictions/regulations or the market will go hog wild.
According to this article Senator Claire McCaskill's proposal would force companies taking federal bailout money to limit compensation for any employee to what the President of the United State currently earns: $400,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...
I wonder if historians will look back at this as one of the biggest transfers of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthy (via these tax-sponsored handouts).
ReplyDelete