Wall Street firms dole out record pay to executives

[Hannah Bell]

While for millions of Americans 2010 has been a year of unemployment and wage-cutting, executives at a handful of finance firms will be paid a record $144 billion, according to a new survey by the Wall Street Journal. The sum is up 4 percent from last year’s haul of $139 billion, which was also a record.

The Journal found that executive pay for 2010 has gone up at 29 of the top 35 surveyed banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money management firms, and securities exchanges. The payroll increase will slightly outstrip the growth in revenue at these firms, which increased by 3 percent from $433 billion in 2009 to $448 billion in 2010. About a third of total Wall Street revenue is given over to employees.

While profits at the big finance houses have rebounded from the lows of 2008, when the entire financial system teetered on the brink of collapse, they remain 20 percent below the record set in 2006, or $61.3 billion now versus $82 billion four years earlier. Yet over the same period executive pay has increased by 23 percent.

Among the surveyed firms are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Barclay’s Capital, Blackstone Group and Fortress Investment Group.

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Can't be. why, bank of america is so poor they can't even hire any mexican landscapers to mow the lawns of the foreclosed houses on my street.

[sabrina 1]

1. Great, we bailed them out and they reward THEMSELVES

once again while Congress cuts benefits for the elderly and disabled. Did Congress have anything to say about this?

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. If their company paid the money back with interest, I don't care what they paid out. nt

[sabrina 1]

5. Well you should. Because when they land in trouble again

they'll back begging the American people to bail them out again. If they had not paid out these huge bonuses over the years, being fiscally conservative as the rest of us have to be, they might have had enough money to cover their own corruption.

I care that they still have jobs at all, and that some of the are still roaming around free. These people destroyed this country's economy, and the rest of the world's because of their greed.

It's time to start capping their salaries since they are a huge liability to the American people and anyone who thinks they will stop their corrupt practices on their own, must also believe in the tooth fairy.

[sabrina 1]

2. Oh yes, I did rec this but

the silent censors are already at work.

[Rex]

4. The height of the crime spree - the largest of payouts.

Watch for more TARP money to be sent out to banksters. Who owns Wall Street? Banksters.

[aquart]

6. No man should be so rich he has nothing left to buy but his government.

Lotta sensitivity on Wall Street. Anyone who buys a stock these days is nuts. The corporations are being raped by parasitical executives. They aren't healthy. But they're so busy basking in their personhood they aren't noticing what's being shoved up their ass.

[Waiting For Everyman]

7. It's "hush money".

It's too much to be pay for work done. Imo it's that high so that nobody who knows the inside secrets would snitch the others off, or walk away from it.

[Hannah Bell]

8. agreed. & i'd bet it's also a way to siphon off profit & there's kickback involved somewhere.