It's a Wall Street bonus bonanza -- USA Today - Good Article

[Jon8503]

HO, HO, HO... Wall Street firms are expected to pay out a record $23.9 billion in bonuses this year. The top brass reap the biggest paydays, but the rank and file benefit, too. This year the average bonus is expected to top $137,000.

Total Average
20061 $23.9 billion $137,580

20051 $20.5 billion $119,390

2004 $18.6 billion $113,450

2003 $15.8 billion $99,930

2002 $9.8 billion $60,900

2001 $13.0 billion $74,140

2000 $19.5 billion $100,530

1999 $13.5 billion $75,010

1998 $9.1 billion $53,040

1997 $11.2 billion $67,800

Source: N.Y. State Comptroller; USA TODAY research

By Greg Farrell, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Executives at Wall Street's top financial firms will probably remember this holiday season with particular fondness, as soaring profits cascade down to traders and bankers in the form of multi million-dollar bonuses.
This year, four of the top five brokerage houses have posted record earnings, paced by Goldman Sachs, where income jumped 68% over 2005.

Even Morgan Stanley, where an ugly internal putsch resulted in the ouster of an autocratic CEO last year, bounced back smartly in 2006, announcing a 51% rise in earnings Tuesday.

BURNING A HOLE IN YOUR POCKET? Some ideas on spending that bonus

Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. also set records for revenue and earnings.

As a reward for Goldman's blockbuster performance, CEO Lloyd Blankfein received a staggering bonus of $53.4 million this week, the largest ever granted to a Wall Street CEO.

Joining Blankfein in the bonus stratosphere is Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, who got $40.2 million last week.

Lehman CEO Richard Fuld got a seemingly modest $10.9 million bonus earlier this month. But don't shed any tears for him: Fuld also received a 10-year stock payout worth $186 million.

All told, this year's bonus pool for Wall Street executives hit $23.9 billion, the New York State Comptroller's office estimates. That's a 17% jump from last year's bonus pool of $20.5 billion, and it works out to an average bonus of $137,580 for every person employed in the financial services industry.

NOTE: Last paragraph in article.

"There's a disconnect between the economy and the financial system." says Richard Bove, who tracks the financial services industry for Punk Ziegel. "Income has to be generated somewhere. The financial sector has taken on a life of its own not connected to what's going on in the economy and ultimately, that has to be addressed."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/brokerage/2006-12-20-wall-st-bonuses_x.htm

[rfranklin]

1. Spoken from the back seat of the limo" "Why are those people....

in the streets carrying guns shooting at us?"

[Selatius]

2. These guys represent the top 1 percent of America, the owners of American society.

The real power in America is on Wall Street, not in Washington. Wall Street is from where these corporate lobbyists come.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Let me get this straight: Corporate taxes need to be cut or

eliminated so the corporations have enough money for these bonuses???????????????????