Bonus time as banks pay out £40bn

[Newsjock]

Source: The Guardian

The world's biggest investment banks are expected to pay out more than $65bn (£40bn) in salaries and bonuses in the next two weeks, reinforcing the view that it is business as usual on Wall Street and in the City barely a year since the taxpayer bailout of the banking system.

... Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, described the size of the potential bonuses as "global greed by banks when global governance has failed". He added: "Britain's bonus tax only toys with the symptoms of the sickness, not its cause. These last few investment banks left standing have state-backed licences to print money so they must pay supertax on their superprofits, not hold taxpayers to ransom."

The leading Wall Street firms employ thousands of people in the City – Citibank alone employs 10,000 – and bankers are hoping their payments will not be reduced because of the 50% tax on bonuses over £25,000 implemented in last month's pre-budget report.

... Figures already published by the five highest-profile US banks reporting in the next fortnight show they have already set aside $50bn to pay their staff in the first nine months of the year. In the final three months of the year, analysts at Sanford Bernstein reckon a further $10bn will have been put aside by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan even though 2009 was the worst year for the US economy in 30 years.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/08/bonus-time-city-banks

[No Elephants]

1. Why not? No one is going to stop them. Over a year after the TARP and we still have no new

regulations.

[Lars77]

2. Bonus time as banks pay out £40bn

Source: The Guardian

The world's biggest investment banks are expected to pay out more than $65bn (£40bn) in salaries and bonuses in the next two weeks, reinforcing the view that it is business as usual on Wall Street and in the City barely a year since the taxpayer bailout of the banking system.

Despite efforts by Alistair Darling to deter banks from handing out multi-million pound bonuses through the introduction of a 50% windfall tax, City sources believe that the biggest employers will absorb the cost of the tax rather than cut the size of the bonus pools they amass throughout the year.

This will mean that while proceeds from the tax could top £2bn – more than four times the £550m estimated by the chancellor in the pre-budget report – the government will have failed to alter the traditional bonus culture in the City.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/08/bonus-time-city-banks

[Vidar]

3. K&R. Another triumph for Obama.

[saigon68]

5. It just keeps getting better

Yes, we Can

[bkohatlanta]

4. Time Magazine, Bank of America Founder AP Giannini, Mahatma Ghandi and John XXIII

Time Magazine listed Bank of America Founder AP Giannini as one of the 100 Greatest Americans. He was. When he founded The Bank of America (originally called The Bank of Italy In America) in San Francisco, no one loaned money to poor people. He was honest, hard working son of Italy. He trusted poor people. He loaned money to poor people and proved that honorable poor people were the bedrock of our country. He made huge profits and was known by everyone for being honest. He didn't discriminate and wouldn't tolerate it.
Within 50 years Bank of America grew from nothing to one of the biggest banks in the World.
Now, look what Ronald Reagan Republicans have done to it: Government of the Vicious Rich, By The Vicious Rich, For The Vicious Rich. This is exactly what Thomas Jefferson feared, rich people would own the government and rape, torture and murder we, the people, for their own profit.
One financial institution has paid out bonuses worth more than the company's profit for the year.
We Democrats, Liberals, Progressives and Humanists need to create a Credit Union for us.

I suggest one of three names

John XXIII Credit Union
Mahatma Ghandi Credit Union
or my favorite

The AP Giannini American Credit Union.

AP Giannini is a man that Archimedes would have recognized.