"WHEN FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA IT WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE FLAG
AND CARRYING A CROSS." -SINCLAIR LEWIS

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Greed Works

Is this kind of thing even surprising anymore?

By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived.

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.

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.
We gave $700 billion to these guys without even asking for a receipt, then put the auto companies through the ringer for a small fraction of that amount and now we learn this. There seem to be no consequences for these people.

3 comments:

Van Zan said...

"consequences"...

In Japan they would likely commit suicide for such public failure.
The most America asks of THESE guys is... that perhaps they might consider giving the bonuses back (pretty please be-a-nice-guy)?

It's not so much to ask, really. It was a cool party and now it's over. Time they got a real job.

JBW said...

Word, VZ. But when has the word "honor" (an outdated concept, I know) ever entered the vocabulary of a Wall Street executive?

Anonymous said...

Well come on now... they're having to work harder than they ever have whatwith all this controversy, bankruptcy, depression, et al. They deserve a little pat on the back for the added stress they've dealt with.