[eXpat]

Public must learn to 'tolerate the inequality' of bonuses, says Goldman Sachs vice-chairman

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')ne of the City's leading figures has suggested that inequality created by bankers' huge salaries is a price worth paying for greater prosperity.

In remarks that will fuel the row around excessive pay, Lord Griffiths, vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said banks should not be ashamed of rewarding their staff.

Speaking to an audience at St Paul's Cathedral in London about morality in the marketplace last night, Griffiths said the British public should "tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity for all"

[Jotapay]

I can't think of anything to say about this piece of trash's comments that is within the Code of Conduct or even legal after he stole trillions of dollars from American tax payers' future.

[lper100km]

What an arrogant, self centred attitude. (Staying within the COC does not permit expression of the full coarse and vulgar expletives that come to mind and that so much better describe the vehemence of the bile generated by this splendid example of the sense of entitlement so prevalent in today’s business and government circles.) Whose money is it again that they are transferring to their own pockets?

What a mistake to bail out these fools. I see that RBS is back on the gravy train again and that’s virtually owned by the UK govt. and a labour govt at that. It’s obvious that nothing has been learned, that the masters of the universe are convinced of their invulnerability and that at some point not that far away, there will be another crisis, probably terminal this time around.

[dorlomin]

I find his honesty very refreshing. It is a very neat summary of modern capitalism.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dorlomin', 'I') find his honesty very refreshing. It is a very neat summary of modern capitalism.

[dukey]

Objectionable text deleted.
The whole system is a fraud. If the fractional reserve shenanigans didn't exist, the economy wouldn't be in the Expletive deleted. right now.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dorlomin', 'I') find his honesty very refreshing. It is a very neat summary of modern capitalism.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dukey', '[')color=red]Objectionable text dleted.[/color]
The whole system is a fraud. If the fractional reserve shenanigans didn't exist, the economy wouldn't be in the Expletive deleted.right now.

[Thralen]

Note: I am not recommending this solution but I am sure that someone has or is seriously considering it. Giving some of the most egregious offenders on the bonuses a personal bonus, Text deleted.

Once again, I'm not condoning or suggesting it, it is just something that wouldn't surprise me in the least if I read it in the news. Attitudes like those quoted by the OP in the initial post are sure to aggravate the problem also, especially when those articles and comments get into the MSM.

[jbrovont]

...


Holy sh*t.

[mos6507]

Hey guys, what's this? This doesn't fit the tinfoil script. Spin away, guys.

[Jotapay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'H')ey guys, what's this? This doesn't fit the tinfoil script. Spin away, guys.

[greensheen22]

I don't see why this is surprising, but I'm glad things didn't change. Now I'll know what to do next time around. :D

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'H')ey guys, what's this? This doesn't fit the tinfoil script. Spin away, guys.

[highlander]

I see O's pay czar really hit the big guys where it hurts. Imagine having to wait a whole year to collect that 100 million bonus. That will teach them.

I thought you could read Mos.

[eXpat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Thralen', 'N')ote: I am not recommending this solution but I am sure that someone has or is seriously considering it.

Giving some of the most egregious offenders on the bonuses a personal bonus, such as an ounce of lead at high velocity.

Once again, I'm not condoning or suggesting it, it is just something that wouldn't surprise me in the least if I read it in the news. Attitudes like those quoted by the OP in the initial post are sure to aggravate the problem also, especially when those articles and comments get into the MSM.

Thralen

[obixman]

I don't have a problem with bonuses based on the profit a company makes, and the amount of effort an employee contributes to that profit.

However, most of the robbers err employees of financial institutions have negotiated their bonuses to be based on the income they bring in.

ie. The assumption is that anything do do is profitable....

and recent events have demonstrated just how wrong that can be.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dorlomin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dukey', '[')color=red]Objectionable text deleted.[/color]
The whole system is a fraud. If the fractional reserve shenanigans didn't exist, the economy wouldn't be in the Expletive deleted. right now.

[paimei01]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dorlomin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dukey', '[')color=red]Objectionable text deleted.[/color]
The whole system is a fraud. If the fractional reserve shenanigans didn't exist, the economy wouldn't be in the Expletive deleted. right now.

[eXpat]

Wall Street Cries ‘Feed Me’ or World Will End: Susan Antilla
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') poll of Bloomberg customers released last week revealed that 21 percent of traders, analysts and fund managers polled in the U.S. expect their 2009 bonuses to be bigger than last year. Another 24 percent expect their bonuses to be about the same, which is pretty good when you consider the employment woes of the rest of the nation. Frustrated taxpayers wonder how they got into a mess where $700 billion of their money went to bailing out people who today are poised to pocket record amounts in some cases (9 percent in the Bloomberg survey).

Argument Trumped

In the financial industry, though, the attitude of entitlement trumps any argument that there would be no job, no employer and no paycheck without the bailouts.

In fact, those Bloomberg customers said any limits on pay will boomerang. Asked “Do you think limits on executive compensation in the financial industry will do more to control excessive risk-taking or more to discourage useful innovation?” 65 percent of the ones working in the U.S. said limits on pay would choke innovation.

Knowing what we do about innovation in finance, we wouldn’t want that to happen.

Are there actually credible people worried that capitalism will be brought to its knees if restrictions on pay, and related reforms in regulation, are imposed on Wall Street?

Easing the Rules

NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Officer Duncan Niederauer, who is either tone deaf to the public’s disgust or secure in the belief that the public’s anger doesn’t matter, told the Wall Street Journal last week that he’s worried that regulatory changes in the works in Washington will determine whether New York City can compete in the world. I’m having a déjà vu moment. Didn’t we try, and fail, at the idea of ratcheting down our rules to the levels of competing countries?

The high standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act give “the perception of heavy regulation” on the NYSE, he said, and a proposed tax on securities transactions (intended in one bill to be used to refill the coffers Wall Street depleted) could have “disastrous consequences” for entrepreneurs trying to tap into the U.S. equity markets.

I’m glad Niederauer brought that up, because the notion of a smart person having a great idea and building a business to the point where it goes public is just what I think of when I hear the word “innovation.”