Wall Street bankers: We Deserve Everything We've Stolen

[marmar]

:argh:



from the NY Times:



It’s Theirs and They’re Not Apologizing
By ALAN FEUER and KAREN ZRAICK

Published: January 30, 2009


Getting between a broker and his bonus is like getting between a schnauzer and his lunch bowl. He may not bite you, but you are going to smell his breath.

“People come here because they want to work hard and get paid a lot for working hard,” one investment banker said Friday as he wended his way, lunch bag in hand, through the World Financial Center. “I think there’s a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.”

That certainly was the case this week when Main Street learned that, despite the craters of a down economy, Wall Street bonuses were more than $18 billion last year — roughly what they were in the fatty, solvent days of 2004. The media hollered, the president scolded, and ordinary people checked their wallets. But downtown, in the caverns of finance, the moneymakers shrugged and took it on the chin.

It is a complicated thing, they said, to apportion compensation in a bear market. First of all, profits do not stop; they often ebb. Second of all, losses move unequally, so the law of the jungle should still apply: you eat what you can kill.

“My bonus is ‘shameful’ — but I worked hard to get it,” said John Konstantinidis, a wholesale insurance broker, lunching Friday at Harry’s at Hanover Square.

“I’m a HENRY,” Mr. Konstantinidis added. “High Earner but Not Rich Yet.” .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/nyregion/31bonuses.html?ref=business

[MichiganVote]

1. "Its a complicated thing"...yeah sure, bankrupt the country with bullshit investment products

and then whine that you worked hard.. Hell, bank robbers work hard, everybody works hard. Not everybody takes MY FUCKING MONEY to do it.

No excuse. None.

[gratuitous]

8. "It's complicated" is so much easier than "Stick 'em up"

But the outcome is pretty much the same.

[MichiganVote]

17. God that's the truth. And they didn't even bother to say that at first.

[glowing]

2. And that's the problem, they think they are entitled to it. I bet that not one of

these boys could last one day on a farm. The farmer works hard, and is paid peanuts. I would say that in a society, the farmer is pretty damned important.

[Deja Q]

19. Agreed. 100%

[Ian David]

3. Rudy 9iu11ani says the $18 billion will all go to waiters and waitresses in NYC who will buy yachts.

Or private dirigibles.

[acmavm]

13. Oh hell, you saw that too? Aren't you just amazed at the ways these people

think of to justify 'trickle down' economics? What really is upsetting is that this guy is saying that crap publically, with a straight face. That clearly indicates that he thinks we are all ignorant and beneath contempt. Which is ironic because I (and millions of others like me) have absolutely nothing but feelings of contempt and disgust for Rudy-911.

[lonestarnot]

28. My eyes 9/11!

[baldguy]

4. The banks are acting like a parasite latched onto your heart.

They exist to feed off your blood & drain your life away - but if they get too big, trying to remove it you might kill you.

I don't think they're that big, even though they want you to believe they are.

[DCKit]

27. Except most successful parasites know when to quit feeding.

These are the type who would strangle the golden goose just to keep anyone else from getting the next egg.

[terisan]

5. Sen Judd Craig was a chief backer of Wall Street Bailout-new Commerce Secretary

Summers, Rubin, Geithner, Gregg---all Wall ST/Big Bank saviors.

[Canuckistanian]

6. I'm sick of this "it's hard work" shit

Tell that to the person who's working three jobs just to get the groceries and pay the rent.

Or someone working a menial, backbreaking job because they can't find work in the field they've been trained for.

These days, if you're not "working hard", you're going to find yourself and your belongings out on the street.

[closeupready]

30. Can't poor people just pick up the phone and call their Senators,

and ask for a bailout/some welfare? Worked with these guys. :sarcasm:

[KharmaTrain]

7. So Hard Work = Getting A Bonus???

Hell...where were those rules when I was a wage slave? Hell...that's like saying you should get an A on a paper cause you made the effort. Sheesh.

Isn't it amazing that the captains of capitalism sure don't like the downside...when your company loses money, when your clients lose money, you lose to. If you don't like the rules...pump gas.

[catzies]

9. If guys like this are "High Earners but Not Rich Yet," then WTF is "Rich?!?!"

:grr:

[MUAD_DIB]

10. Lots of Americans "Work Hard" and get tossed under the bus.

And that is shameful.

[NashVegas]

11. Working "Hard" And Doing a Job "Well" Aren't Necessarily the Same Thing

Bricklayers work hard and they don't lose fortunes for anyone.

[mediaman007]

12. So don't pay them and watch what they do! I'll bet they look around

and notice that their options for that kind of money are pretty slim. Do you think that they'll just quit and pout?

[varelse]

14. It's taxpayer money that has been stolen from hard-working Americans

to pay THEM exorbitant, unearned bonuses. A bonus isn't paid out for "hard work" it is paid out for SUCCESS. Something your firm has NOT achieved if it needs a god damned GOVERNMENT BAILOUT.

:wtf:

[madmom]

15. Then pay bonuses out of stock holder shares.

[pansypoo53219]

16. bankers/MBAs

have a brain defect.

[Runcible Spoon]

18. They certainly do. When I taught cultural anthropology classes at university..

my business students were the laziest and most dishonest of them all, without exception. In a class of 250, I busted 10 cheaters during one final, and 8 of them were a little tribe of BBAs. I found that students in these programs lied about being out sick, plagiarized from wikipedia (insulting my intelligence by thinking they wouldn't be caught), and had some of the most selfish and sophomoric responses to essay questions related to global poverty issues. I know my experiences are not a statistically valid sample, but this was the general consensus among everyone else who had to teach huge intro level classes.

Business administration programs don't teach nearly enough, if ANY, ethics. At my university, they were only required to take one social science or humanities course and unfortunately that included mine among the choices.

[marmar]

20. Funny you should say that.....the biggest idiots in my dorm freshman year.....

..... were those who intended to major in business.

[Runcible Spoon]

21. lol I'm not surprised.

It was a constant battle dealing with the mentality that a college education exists solely to teach you how to make money. Gawd forbid they actually, umm, learn CRITICAL THINKING.

I hope you made it through OK and met some cooler people too!

[RandomKoolzip]

22. Hey, I work hard too! Where's MY fuckin' bonus, dickhead?

[Skittles]

25. damn straight, RKZ

I've worked hard all my life but now my pension halted, salary frozen, etc,

[lonestarnot]

29. What $6 per day isn't enough for you?

:sarcasm: I think foodstamps must have improved. I used the foodstamp deal once. I think I received $10.00 per month for 2 months. Can't remember now what the excuse was for them giving me so little. :shrug: It was quite an unexpected experience. It was sort of an experiment in humanity. :evilgrin:

[kaybea]

23. Latter-day serfs like Joe the Plumber agree. That's one of the kickers in all this

[Waiting For Everyman]

24. Ooooo, they're so gonna get it in the near future. Idiots!

I really can't believe how clueless they are. But I'm glad they're showing off their arrogance and greed, just so there's no doubt about it.

They keep this up, and they'll find their ripoffs stopped by law, cold. Betcha.

[bertman]

26. That one clown who says "Say I'm a banker and I created $30 million." WTF!! Does

he actually think he created 30 million dollars? Or is he referring to assets? Such as some of these worthless securities we're now being called upon to pony up for.

The arrogance is sickening.