The banks take handout & pay bonuses but....

[Wayne Maybury]

This would almost be funny if it wasn't so sad. The Wall St. investment banks are losing billions of dollars but the workers receiving bonuses are still not happy. What is wrong with these people?

Wall Street Workers Get Bonuses, Many Still Unhappy (Update1)

By Christine Harper

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- More Wall Street employees received bonuses for 2008 than were expecting to in October, though many remained unhappy with them, according to an online poll.

EFinancialCareers.Com said about 79 percent of workers who responded to an online poll this month said they received a bonus for 2008, more than the 66 percent of respondents who expected to get a reward in October. Still, 46 percent said they were dissatisfied with their bonus.

“What it shows is the bonus culture is very deep-set in the securities industry,” said John Benson, founder and chief executive officer of the Web site, a unit of Dice Holdings Inc. “There’s an entitlement culture amongst a number of people in the industry, which I think in the current environment is very misplaced.”

Wall Street’s system of paying year-end bonuses to reward workers is under criticism after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression led to record losses and forced the government to pump taxpayer money into banks. Former Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive Officer John Thain has drawn criticism for accelerating bonus payments before the firm’s sale to Bank of America Corp. was completed.

About 900 U.S. users of the financial jobs Web site responded to the survey conducted Jan. 7-12. In October, 1,300 people responded, and 36 percent said then that they anticipated a higher bonus.

Most of the people who said they were unhappy with their bonus, 89 percent, had five years or less experience, the survey found.

Merrill, which was acquired by Bank of America Corp. this year and has reported six straight quarters of losses, reduced 2008 compensation by 6 percent to $15 billion from $15.9 billion in 2007. Year-end bonuses typically account for the majority of compensation.

Flexibility

“I have been a defender of the bonus system in the past because it provides banks with a degree of flexibility on their cost structure,” Benson said. “I think most people on Main Street would say their organization incurred losses of this size that very few people in the organization if anybody would receive bonuses at all.”

Most of the people who reported a drop in their bonus said it fell between 11 percent and 50 percent, while the biggest portion of increases were 10 percent or less, the survey found.

Many firms instituted changes to their bonus systems and reduced average compensation as revenue fell. The most senior executives at firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley turned down bonuses.

Firms including Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG also have added so-called clawback provisions that set aside portions of workers’ bonuses that can be recouped in later years if an employee leaves or is found to have behaved in ways that are harmful to the company.

“You’ve got as good an opportunity today as you’re ever going to have for this culture to change,” said Benson. “There needs to be a clearer risk-reward balance, rather than reward- reward.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 27, 2009 11:33 EST

[Ron61]

After this disaster I don't think any of them should get bonuses. Let them live on what they earn. At least some of them still have jobs.

Ron

[imagine2frolic]

I just don't understand how you can give a bonus when the company is failing. I would call that getting fired on the spot.....i2f

[Jamo]

Wayne...and others.

Mentioned it numerous times already...stop the long cut/paste jobs. Link to the article.

Please...no explanations or "oops." Just do it. Thanks.

[Wayne Maybury]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Wayne...and others.

Mentioned it numerous times already...stop the long cut/paste jobs. Link to the article.

Please...no explanations or "oops." Just do it. Thanks.

Sorry, as far as I can remember, this is the first time I have ever done this.

By the way, Bloomberg reports today that the average 2008 bonus paid to New York City security exchange employees (that is all of them not just managers / excutives / traders) was over $100,000.

I will try to post the link later.

Wayne

[Wayne Maybury]

Lets see if this will work.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...9J0&refer=home

Wayne

[Cobrabill]

The people who caused this mess are getting bonuses.OUT-FRIGGIN-STANDING

[cobra de capell]

Originally Posted by Cobrabill

The people who caused this mess are getting bonuses.OUT-FRIGGIN-STANDING

Now that's an eroneous statement, BO fan Corba Bill. The people whe caused this mess are in Congress, continue to be in Congress on the Democrat side and are the same people that are coming up with the stimulus plan from hell.

[joe g]

maybe everyone should be on straight commission In my job as a medical salesman we get paid 100% commission

The harder i work the more i make, goofing off al the time cost me money. Screw up andi loose money, but i guess in the banking industry, the more you fail, the more you make
joeg ( Smokingcobra)

[Cobrabill]

[quote=cobra de capell; The people whe caused this mess are in Congress, continue to be in Congress on the Democrat side and are the same people that are coming up with the stimulus plan from hell.[/QUOTE]

Agreed,but these people ARE being rewarded for bankrupting their companies.

[cobra de capell]

Cobra bill - there is something, perhaps a lot of things, that you don't seem to understand - the companies involved have found themselves in a mess as an outcome of the real estate disaster. That disaster was caused by our government, specifically the Democrat party through Freddie and Fannie, along with pressure through regulators on banks to lend to unqualified people through the CRA. A huge number of loans were made, trillions of dollars but now the chickens have come home to roast and they are huge, mad chickens including yourself and every poster here that works or has worked for a living and done the right thing in their financial world.

In others words our government opened the flood gate and thousands of developers and mortgage brokers took full advantage over a 10 year period. It starts in the Clinton administration and Bush could not manage to put a stop to it - he tried, the Republicans in Congress tried and failed - the Democrats simply had more votes and now the Democrats have even more votes - we are screwed and will be screwed repeatedly for 4 to 8 years.

So, Cobra Bill just bend over...........you going to get what you've been asking for, some BO lovin'.

[Cobrabill]

O.K.First off-Cobra bill isn't involved in this topic.Stop confusing me with him.

[Wes Tausend]

...

For the most part, I have to agree with cobra de capell.

When the people who got the bonuses, if you can call them that, began their year, part of their compensation was expected/promised in the form of a bonus at the end of the year or some agreed-upon period. Not paying these bonuses is like not tipping a waitress because food prices have risen even though they are specifically paid less than minimum wage because it is assumed there will be a tip. Folks who perform poorly get neither tip nor bonus. Most folks in finance did their expected job and have nothing to do with the poor menu.

If I agree to work for someone for $20 an hour paid weekly and I work for 40 hours in the next week, I fully expect $800 at the end of the week. It's the same as if I'd loaned the money for that week, because my time is money. I wouldn't take kindly to some song and dance that times were tough and my paycheck should suddenly, without warning, be less. And I'll be d@mned if I haven't actually heard that on occasion. A deal is a deal in my book. A mans word is his word. A pay scale is a pay scale. The boss is welcome to try to make a different deal next week, ahead of time, if he wishes, but for now, he can grit his teeth and pay.

Now on fixating blame on one political party, I disagree with cobra de capell. In this sleazy game of politics, it isn't one bleacher side that should be thrown out of the game, but one end of both bleachers. Them dumbazzez are killin' us and there is only one way to really clean house.

Wes


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[Wayne Maybury]

Looks like the government is going to try to get at least some of the bonus money back. We are talking billions here.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...7sM&refer=home

Wayne

[427 S/O]

They actually thought WS would be responsible with our money!!!!, now,they gotta step back in and lead them by the hand!!. This is total BS and they 'should' take the money back, then lay out a detailed plan on how those funds be distributed.

[Wes Tausend]

...

I would like to take the money back, at gunpoint, that I gave for over-priced fuel. Then I'd like to take my money back, at gunpoint, for all the overcharges of medical, prescription drugs, dentistry and health insurance. After that I would like to take the middleclass money back, at gunpoint, from all the lame high-roller welfare cases that benefitted from "Trickle Down" voodoo economics. And on and on...

I used to believe that a deal was a deal and, if I didn't like it, renegotiate, at handshake, for a better deal tommorrow.

But you guys, and O', almost have me convinced I can renegotiate at gunpoint for a better deal yesterday, which goes against my grain.

Yeah, we desperately mailed the bailout check like it was a last-chance boiler-room scam, the bonuses seem unfair, the milk is spilled, and we must have fell off a turnip truck to agree to them by our inaction in the past.

Geez. Am I the only guy to see it this way?

Wes


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