Wall Street Banks' Pay, Bonus Deals Equal 10 Percent Of US Bailout Package

The Guardian:

Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.

Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.

Read the whole story: The Guardian

Comments

[Retrofuturistic]

I would like to make a comment about the mortgage crisis (slightly off subject, but kind of related). I think the way to solve the mortgage crisis is to lower property taxes.

I have been looking at foreclosed, short sale, and bank-owned properties in Ohio. There are MANY bargains, but the high property taxes are keeping me from buying. The property taxes are so high that even if I pay cash for the house, I have the equivalent of a mortgage payment just from the property taxes plus insurance.

If banks want people to buy these properties, the property taxes must be lowered.

[KillTheMessenger]

Bwaaahhhahaaahahhaahaahhhhaaahahah...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the future of the GOP: the man who answers EVERY question with a tax cut.

[francoise]

Yes, lower the taxes in America.

Your infrastructure rocks.

Nola is rebuilt.

All Americans benefit of the most wonderful health care system.

Every young American has the opportunity of getting educated in a fair college system so that each intellectual potentiality can perfectly blossoms.

There's no deficit and the Iraq war is all paid for to the last dime.

In fact, why not suppress all taxes ? They're so useless !

;-)

[JiminNC]

This is bullsh!t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/opinion/19dowd.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

AIG at it again - this will boil your blood.

[Snwbnny9]

These people should be in jail.

[nomoredead]

But, just mention increasing the minimum wage, increasing welfare checks, food stamps or union wages and hear the outrage from corporate america.

[KillTheMessenger]

Actually, the real corporate America cares nothing about any of these things, most jobs in most corporations are well above the threshold where any of this matter. Retail America does care. You will hear a lot of noise from Walmart et al. But I wouldn't really count those lowlifes to "corporate America". You have several level of existence even in the spheres of big business. Sadly, the lowest one of those levels is what keeps driving the GOP into destroying the whole country.

[nomoredead]

But, just mention raising corporate taxes to pay for this or cut executive bonuses and hear them cry.

[ROBOT8]

GIVE THE BONUS PACKAGE TO THE HOMEOWNERS AND LET IT TRICKLE UP!

[KillTheMessenger]

So if you took out a larger loan than you can afford you should get a bonus? For what? For being dumb?

[mizzou66]

Oh don't even start pointing fingers at anyone out here. By and large these loans were taken out in good faith, but through job losses to overseas markets, catastrophic medical bills due to little or no health insurance, etc...people began to fall behind. Should no one ever attempt to own their own home due to unforseen setbacks that MIGHT occur at some future time?? Get real.

[darthdarcy]

We have to remember these workers are paid bonuses based upon volume and not profit..quite often..!

Imagine one 10th of $700 billion not going to end the restriction of capital and lending or equity or assets in these banks or lending institutions but personal compensation..!

We needed a bottom up solution and to have these sub prime mortgages reset to a fixed rate at their current and true value..or pegged at 2-3% of the Fed Rate and forgive all penalties over 1/2 of which are illegal anyway..

[KillTheMessenger]

And quite often the base salaries suck and the bank pays a substantial bonus to all employees when overall business is good. And it really does not matter how diligent that office worker was or how many times she stayed longer... if business is bad, she will get the shaft. That, darcy, is how that really works out outside of your little imaginary world.

"We needed a bottom up solution and to have these sub prime mortgages reset to a fixed rate at their current and true value"

A sub prime mortgage is one given to a person who shouldn't have gotten a mortgage to begin with. So you want to reward people who would NOT have been given a mortgage in normal times for not being able to support a mortgage payment????

Cool. Then I want my $4 million, 2% interest only subprime mortgage tomorrow. Because according to your arithmetic that's about the size of loan I should be good for. Because at that rate I could easily pay the interest for those $4 million. And then some. And who cares that it will take me 250 years to pay it back?

[Choicelady]

Kindly remember that 65% of those in subprime mortgages were told they were unqualified to receive conventional mortgages when they most certainly WERE qualified. It is at least to these people that reconsideration is due. Every mortgage lender who lied and shoved qualified people into subprime rates should be forced to reconsider the mortgage at conventional rates. McCain wants to pay OFF the bad mortgages thereby rewarding the scum mortgage lenders before letting people rewrite the loans. NO! It is far better to rewrite the loans, even at face value of the original, at much, much lower rates. Perhaps even give those homeowners a rebate on the overpayment out of the money directed to the finance markets. Mortgage brokers lied and manipulated way too many good people into these horrible loans. They deserve to have to eat the difference.

[gorgol]

Devils Island was closed down WAY too soon...

[research]

Thank God these heroic Bankers kept it from getting any worse!

They totally deserve their huge salaries!

NOT!

[KillTheMessenger]

You don't even know how "huge" these salaries are. You just think you know. But more likely than not, you just imagine that it's all going to top level managers. It's not. In banking you will see office workers and mid level personal receive bonus payments as part of the compensation package. You take that away, chances are a lot of people who make less than $50k annually as base salary will have a rather meager Christmas.

[billyfitz]

So what. At least they still have jobs.

[Erdgeist]

Wall Street is the new Axis of Evil. These financiers are the new terrorists who took America hostage asking for a 700 billion dollar ransom payment -- probably the first of several.

[lamonkey]

HuffPost, why isn't this on the front page?????? My Brit hubby read this on the Guardian site yesterday and wondered why nobody here in the states was talking about it. I'm glad to see it here, but let's get some more press on this, stat!! PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW!!

[KillTheMessenger]

100% bonus on top of the salary is the international standard for many investment bankers. It's not what you get for being good. It's what you get for having to live in downtown London or New York where you have to be accessible 24/7 with unlimited all-nighters without the right to complain about workload and hours. A friend of ours does that. She still can't afford to buy a flat in London.

[tompoe]

This thinking assumes the world wants these jerks to resume business as usual for the last 8 years. That just is not the case. Raping and pillaging has got to stop, and stop, yesterday. This is about the financial system, not about investment banking make believe world. 8,000 foreclosures a day, 8,000 families homeless a day, and the raping and pillaging is supposed to continue? By the way, computers are available for remote connections these days. Tell your friend to move to affordable housing. I don't want her supported by my tax dollars.

[KillTheMessenger]

"This thinking assumes the world wants these jerks to resume business as usual for the last 8 years."

This thinking assumes that I know my friend and you don't. She has nothing to do with mortgages or derivatives thereof. She is involved in investments which you will never get to see unless you are a professional investor with $10 million to invest and a medium appetite for risk.

"Raping and pillaging"

There was no raping and pillaging. That's all in your head. People took out mortgages which they shouldn't have.

"8,000 foreclosures a day"

That's 8000 people who should have listened in school when the math teacher discussed interest and compound interest. Do you expect me to feel bad for people who can't do a trivial reality check what they can afford and what they can't?

"By the way, computers are available for remote connections these days."

A customer who has $10 million to invest and wants you to manage it will expect you to be in your office at any time of the day. If they want a telecon from Tokio and that happens to be your midnight, you are there. I am sorry my friend, but this is not a game. We are talking about the real world here, not your imagination of what an investment banker is.

"I don't want her supported by my tax dollars."

Neither does she. She earns every single dollar she makes.

[Eres]

Oh my, the poor dears. Perhaps I should confiscate my mother's social security checks and donate to your friend's cause.

[KillTheMessenger]

Not poor at all. But hard earned. You need to learn the difference.

[billyfitz]

The bankers still screwed the pooch. Anywhere else in the world, you screw up at your job, you lose it.

[KillTheMessenger]

Except that she didn't screw up and she did not screw anybody, either. She has nothing to do with any of this.

Your indiscriminate hate shows quite nicely, though.

[me again]

All bonus monies for bailed out banks and financial institutions should be suspended this year. If a bank took bail-out money, no one in the company has a right to a single cent over their salary.