"Goldman Sachs Architect Has No Pie in the Sky Payday " (on wealth inequality)

Goldman Sachs Architect Has No Pie in the Sky Payday (Update1)

Commentary by James S. Russell

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- A few days ago, I stood before the $2.5 billion 43-story skyscraper that the masters of the universe at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will soon call home.

The West Lobby, with its colorful, monumental mural, exudes a forbidding calm amid a frenzy of building activity.

Outside, I watched men install stone curbs at the East Lobby’s limousine drop-off. As I contemplated this edifice at 200 West Street, a block from Ground Zero, some numbers came to mind:

-- The $1.65 billion in tax-exempt bonds that helped build the tower and saved the firm $100 million.

-- The $115 million of tax breaks Goldman wrung from city and state officials desperate to show progress at the World Trade Center site.

-- The $16.7 billion Goldman has set aside for compensation this year.

The firm and its competitors say big paydays are essential to retain their best people. I’d argue that that is a totally fraudulent mantra insulting millions who are far less grandly paid yet glad to make a difference.

Case in point: the architects of Goldman’s new tower, a group of firms led by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Co-founded by I.M. Pei, the practice is in the top tier of corporate-design firms. It wouldn’t discuss compensation or the Goldman Sachs project, yet its eight principals probably make a nice living.

-snip

Goldman’s allocation for 2009 compensation and benefits is enough to pay every single worker close to $600,000. On average, you have to be president of a large architecture firm to earn more than $300,000, according to the latest salary survey of the American Institute of Architects.

-snip

Many Wall Streeters think anti-bonus rage is class warfare or hating the rich. It has to do with the trust we put in highly paid speculators who expect stratospheric rewards no matter how their bets pan out. No architect would blithely ask to be rewarded for building a house that fell down.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=av4...

THIS ATTITUDE ON WALL STREET MUST CHANGE! :mad: