New York bankers best paid, London at bottom: poll

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - London bankers' mighty pay has fallen from the highest level among global financial centers to the lowest, with Wall Street financiers grabbing the top spot, a poll showed on Sunday.

According to the survey across a range of businesses and countries by Napier Scott recruiters, London bankers saw an average drop of 62 percent in their salaries and bonuses for 2008, and took home 40 percent less in remuneration than their New York counterparts.

The pollsters noted that the devaluation of the British pound against both the dollar and the euro over the past year helped make London bankers' pay appear smaller.

Private bankers came out as overall winners, seeing the smallest drop in pay. Managing directors at top private banks across Britain, Switzerland, Russia and Dubai pocketed 510,000 pounds ($747,800) on average.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE5342I120090406

[gratuitous]

1. Could this be why European countries . . . ?

Could this be why European countries don't think they need measures quite as drastic as the United States is advocating for? Their systems might not be as out of whack as ours is, though the engine of the U.S. economy has certainly steered a lot of people off course.

[chill_wind]

2. That might be what happens when you FIRE the top thieves and replace them

which is what the UK did, according to this:

AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, which countries do you think did things well, and which didn’t?

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: Well, Sweden and Norway did things very well back in the end of the ’80s, beginning of the ’90s.

The UK, I think, has been doing it much better than the United States. Its problems are bigger— we have to realize that—because its banking sector was a more important part of the economy, and one of the banks actually had liabilities greater than the GDP of the UK. So it’s going to be facing a very difficult time. But the fact of the matter is, the way Gordon Brown did it, replacing the heads of the banks—it was real sense of accountability there. Government got control and shares commensurate with the money that it was paying in—it wasn’t a giveaway—and now trying to make sure that they start lending, forward-looking. So it’s clearly—they have a much clearer concept of what is needed.


http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/25/stieglitz

[soothsayer]

3. The "devaluation" of the pound against the dollar? I thought the dollar was in the toilet

[conspirator]

5. the pound has not only followed the dollar but dropped even further to the

point that it is becoming more attractive to work in any country in continental europe and earn in euros.
UK is the new Iceland.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. No, the dollar has risen in value since August 08, when things started getting really bad

http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/intchart.asp?symb=DXY&sid=3044712&dist=TQP_chart_date&freq=1&time=9

Back in Sept 2007 it was around 78: http://www.reuters.com/article/inPlayBriefing/idUSIN20070927140530TECHX20070927 , and now it's around 84.

[paparush]

4. Must See Video as to Why US Bankers will not be fired -

William Black addresses this very issue during his recent interview with Bill Moyers:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html

Current execs are being kept in place to keep the lid on the scandal and to keep the patterns of systemic fraud in place.

[sarcasmo]

8. That is the most logical reasoning I have seen.

[chill_wind]

7. kick

[fascisthunter]

9. and Yet most of these motherf'ers Consider Unions a Strain on the Economy

Jump! Do us all a favor and jump you fuckers!!!