Key bank staff each get bonus of €180,000

[suffragette]

Source: Irish Independent

SENIOR AIB executives were awarded bonuses averaging €180,000 last year despite the bank's record losses and a massive taxpayer bailout.

Further details of who was paid what can be revealed as fury rages over the €40m chunk of bonuses detailed yesterday by the Irish Independent.

On the same day as Budget social welfare cuts were passed -- which will reduce basic benefits by €8 a week -- an embarrassed Government admitted it was powerless to halt the bonuses.

~~~

Details of the huge bonuses sparked widespread anger among opposition parties and charity groups who saw their funding cut in this week's Budget.

Read more: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/key-bank-staff-each-get-bonus-of-euro180000-2455770.html

---

I noticed a picture of the protesting UK students with a sign that said: Our Austerity, Their Prosperity.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9736556&mesg_id=9736556


This article from Ireland clearly shows that pattern in action.

And it's all too similar to what is happening here.

[rfranklin]

1. But these bonuses are chicken feed compared to U.S. bonuses...

US: Banks Set for Record Pay

by STEPHEN GROCER, Wall Street Journal
January 14th, 2010

-snip-


The surge in bonuses comes barely a year after the government bailed out the U.S. financial system amid the worst economic crisis in generations. This year major U.S. banks and securities firms are poised to pay their employees a record amount in compensation and benefits—about $145.85 billion, according to the Journal's analysis.

The growth reflects a rebound in the banking industry's revenue to pre-crisis levels. The firms in the analysis are on pace to report $450 billion in revenue, a 25% increase from 2007. Overall, pay is on pace to be equivalent to about 32% of revenue, a decline from 40% in 2008.

"The companies have done well since the meltdown," said Mike Shah, a lawyer at Jones Day who advises companies on executive pay, employee benefits and corporate governance. "Some of it has to do with government assistance," he says. But the issue for corporate boards of directors, which make pay decisions, is this, Mr. Shah says: "You can't just say, 'There is a lot of populist anger out there, so we are not going to compensate our executives who have worked hard to recover some shareholder value.' "

Total compensation and benefits at the publicly traded firms analyzed by the Journal are on track to increase 18% from 2008's $123.4 billion, and 6% from 2007's $137.23 billion payout. This year, employees at the companies will earn an estimated $149,192 on average, up almost $3,000 from 2007 levels.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15502

[Octafish]

3. Buying the sounds of silence.

After someone's had a taste of the forbidden fruit, it becomes difficult to open their lips to pry out the truth.
They've bought in and become part of the problem.

May the Irish find and excise the crooks.

May their cousins in America do the same.

[suffragette]

4. All part of the same pattern of more prosperity for

the wealthiest at the expense of austerity (and drastic cuts to basic services and retirement) to most.

And here the amounts involved, as you note, and the divide is even greater.

[bulloney]

2. This isn't even capitalism. You don't reward corruption and incompetence.

This is just some type of cronyism that comes from allowing a handful of people running a handful of corporations to grab too much power.