In a stunning revelation, Bloomberg is reporting that despite the fact that taxpayers will be spending hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out the banking industry, banking insiders are still on track to receive tens of billions in bonuses. Even more incredible is the fact that these bonuses are coming at a time when shareholder pensions have been crushed, and many of the firms are laying off thousands of employees.
According to the report, both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are scheduled to pay out bonuses of $6.85 billion and $6.44 billion respectively. That equates to an astounding $210,000 per employee for Goldman and $138,700 per person for Morgan Stanley. And that is despite the fact that Goldman’s profit has fallen 47 percent this year, and the share price is down 53 percent. Morgan Stanley’s earnings have tumbled 41 percent and its shares have shed 69 percent of their value.
But get ready for the real kicker.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are each receiving $10 billion from the government as part of the effort to help prop up the financial system.
It is beyond reason that the government would devote so much money to these firms when they are going to turn around and pay out the equivalent of more than 64 percent in bonuses.
Does this make sense? Since when has the government been in the business of funding bankers’ bonuses with taxpayer money? Wall Street’s bankers already receive salaries that range from $80,000 to $600,000 a year.
Why are these two firms getting capital infusions in the first place? How much trouble could these companies really be in if they are still profitable and are planning to pay out billions in bonuses? If they really are in such trouble, why aren’t these banks being forced to use their own bonus money to prop themselves up?
And it is not just Goldman and Morgan that are planning to pay out bonuses. If you can believe it, Bloomberg also reports that defunct Merrill Lynch, the investment bank that the Federal Reserve forced into marriage with Bank of America, will still be paying out $6.7 billion in bonuses. Employees at bankrupt Lehman Brothers will still get bonuses. Employees already have received them at Bear Stearns, the investment bank the Federal Reserve had to lend JP Morgan Chase $29 billion to buy.
“There is no Wall Street without bonuses,” says Andy Kessler, a former analyst and hedge-fund manager turned author. “The guys who know how to make money are the ones who are in demand. If you want to keep them, you have to pay them something.”
Call me old-fashioned, but when Wall Street excess has become so endemic that the whole system is verging on implosion, and the threat is so severe that a $700 billion taxpayer bailout may not be enough to prevent a global economic crash, then maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to see a whole new set of faces on Wall Street. •
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