Bonus time on Wall Street
Despite the current economic melt down, there are firms on Wall Street that are still planning to pay out sizeable year-end bonuses.
Their rationale for this is that many of the recipients earn around $125,000 a year in base pay, and that these “top performers” who receive millions in bonus money may otherwise leave the company if they did not get their annual reward.
By nature, or perhaps birth, I am an entrepreneur and a capitalist. With this declaration, I must admit that when I first heard of this, my gut reaction is where would these “top performers” go given the state of Wall Street. I would also be less than candid if I did not question how “American” these people are by accepting 100% of their bonuses versus deferring some of it to their unemployed colleagues and co-workers who are suffering badly right now.
Some may say that this smacks of socialism, to which I retort; isn’t that what TARP was in Version 1.0?
Make no mistake, I do believe in rewarding those who are generating the business, and in fact I do it in my own business. However, right now, given what we are dealing with, and facing both short and long term, it just does not feel right.
Am I wrong?
Comments
Bonuses should only be given when a profit is made. No profit or increased production...no bonus. That is the way it used to work in manufacturing in past years. It seems logical to me. But then greed takes over and logic is thrown out the window. God help us.
If those hot shot "top performers" did so well then why are these companies in the financial mess they are in..?
Where are these bonuses supposed to come from if the company is worth 0.00/share? The bail-out money? Capitalism reward entrepreneurship, if you rely on bailouts then the system collapses.
Bonuses? This year? What is wrong with America? These supposed bankers should not be receiving any bonuses. First of all, their bonuses will be coming from OUR money by way of the bailout. Why receive a reward for driving your company into the ground? Why isn't our retarded President Bush or our impotent congress doing anything to stop this? Be thankful the republicans did not win again and have another chance to further destroy our country.
I think Morgan Stanley and Goldman shown a profit for the last 3 quarters. So according to Judy they should get a bonus. I dont think the public would support any financial company getting a bonus this year. However they did take money from the government. Were those loans or just hand outs? If loans they still have to pay them back and run their businesses for a profit
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