Bonuses on Wall Street surge 14 percent

[spinbaby]

Source: AP

NEW YORK - This might have been one of Wall Street's most dismal years in a decade, but that hasn't stopped bonus checks from rising an average of 14 percent.

Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. — will pay out about $49.6 billion in compensation this year. Of that, bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60 percent, or almost $30 billion.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_bonuses;_ylt=AkVlVtZkbmKLkbE_Ijfn7j8DW7oF

[asdjrocky]

1. This makes me sick. nt

[ORDagnabbit]

2. considering food inflation is 22%+ and general inflation is probably 18%

at least they're keeping up. :)

[maxsolomon]

3. thank goodness!

think of all the trickling down to the lumpen proles that wouldn't happen unless the bonuses hadn't escalated!

:sarcasm:, obviously.

[Drum]

4. Exactly.

I think this is where inflated figures of "retail health" are gonna come from. Same as it's ever been: some will have grand Christmases, while others will go hungry.

:(

[maxsolomon]

7. i have read/heard/been told on DU that

the majority of wall street compensation are these bonuses. you get one paycheck a year, and it fluctuates.

but, c'mon!

[ldf]

11. yes, i saw that thread

a poster who was in/had been in the business, went to great lengths to explain that the money did NOT come from the shareholders, it was just the fees charged for the transactions.

in other words, the wild day to day fluctuations of the market, up a 100 points one day, down a 100 points the next, many times with the "cause" given as the same for BOTH market responses, are nothing but a result of brokers buying and selling anything and everything, just to generate "fees" charged for the transactions.

uh-huh. riiiiiight.

greed is greed, is greed.

[YankmeCrankme]

12. I remember posters explaining that their whole income was dependent on bonuses too

Then I read this today and see that that isn't so. Some do receive their whole pay from bonuses, but most don't.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/21/news/newsmakers/blankfein_bonus/index.htm?cnn=yes

"Tom McMullen of the Hay Group, a human resources and management consultant, estimates that cash bonuses typically equal between 40 and 100 percent of base salary for top executives on Wall Street, while senior managers receive between 15 to 30 percent of base pay as bonus payments. Even entry-level employees might see 10 to 20 percent of their base pay in the form of a bonus."

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Lumpenproletariat?

How they gonna collect their trickle-down bonuses? Increase productivity in street crime?

[Newsjock]

5. Seize the money

Stories like this are what make me support confiscatory marginal income tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. 90% or more on income of $5 million and above. It was good enough 50 years ago for the Eisenhower years; are Republicans not willing to hold true to their traditional values?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. The equivalent of 992,000 salaried jobs of $50,000.

Something is dreadfully wrong.

[Lorien]

8. Disgusting beyond belief. n/t

[fascisthunter]

10. Let's Tell All The Poorest Folks about This

and then give out addresses. I'm sure they would like to ask those 14 percent a few questions. After all, it is America!

[AmandaRuth]

13. you think this is bad,

just wait until wall street gets its hands on SS.

[ProudDad]

14. These are the same assholes

who want the Feds to bail them out from under the below prime housing crunch...

Gee, they could have lowered a lot of usurious interest rates with some of that money.

Ahh, for the days of the French Revolution...we could take these f*cks out and chop their freakin' heads off...

[Honeycombe8]

15. Well, I guess I know what my midlife career change should be! >.....

If I wanna get wealthy by doing....well, by doing nothing, actually.

Nothing wrong with making lots of money for doing something. But does Wall Street really DO anything?