$18.4 billion in bonuses for the year 2008 by Wall Street? (6th Largest Haul in History!)

[mod mom]

What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses


By BEN WHITE
Published: January 28, 2009
By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived.



Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller.

While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.

-snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html?hp

THESE CROOKS NEED TO FACE JUSTICE. THEY ARE DELIBERATING RAIDING THE CORPORATE COFFERS FOR THEIR OWN BETTERMENT WHILE LEAVING THE REST OF US TO BAIL OUT THEIR HOLLOW SHELLS OF COMPANIES!

[Stinky The Clown]

1. "You're a good crook. Here's yours ...... and you're a good crook. Here's yours ......

...... and you're a good crook. Here's yours ......

[mod mom]

2. This Steve Clemons op-ed freaked me out:

No Economic Team of Rivals On Obama Staff: Rubin's Manic Neoliberals Dominate

-snip
Obama and Rahm Emanuel have hired a group of people who are going to make the rich stay rich -- and who are not designed to really change things for the middle class or the struggling lower end.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/no-economic-team-of-rival_b_161955.html

[ixion]

3. and you know... I found out I won't be getting a bounus this year

because, you know, we're hurting. See, we weren't just handed trillions in taxpayer dollars. :grr:

[stray cat]

4. These are the people I want to see investigated

[FarCenter]

5. This is a pittance compared with what hedge fund principlals are making off with

[mod mom]

6. Obama: Wall Street Bonuses "Outrageous"

Obama: Wall Street Bonuses "Outrageous"
By Zachary Roth - January 29, 2009, 2:35PM
President Obama has weighed in on the controversy over Wall Street bonuses.

Obama this morning called the bonuses "outrageous", according to White House Robert Gibbs, speaking at a press briefing moments ago.

A report released by the New York State comptroller's office and written up today by the New York Times found that Wall Street firms awarded over $18 billion in bonuses, despite the financial crisis that many of them helped trigger.

Yestrday, it was reported that AIG paid $450 million in bonuses to the unit that sold those disastrous credit default swaps.

-snip

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/



Can we take action on this?

[Ocracoker16]

10. I am glad Obama thinks that they are outrageous but

he doesn't seem to be eager to do anything about it. I would be pretty terrified if he didn't think they were outrageous. His pronouncement doesn't change the reality.

[progressoid]

7. See? The economy is rebounding already!

:banghead:

[Skidmore]

8. It's amazing to me that people have not been

rioting on Wall Street. Why is that place treated as almost sacred?

[mod mom]

9. The Money Party protects their own.

:mad:

[Vinnie From Indy]

11. My elederly father has seen his Lehman Bros. retirement fund disappear

HE is now wracked with worry and fear about his future. It is heartbreaking to see a man that has worked so hard his whole life, played by the rules and saved for his future see it all stolen from him. I am beyond enraged. I mostly enraged because NOTHING will ever happen to bring these people to justice.

Wall Street is a sucker's game if you are not part of the club.

[jpak]

12. One word: disgorgement

Pass the law - take it back.

Fuck 'em