Bank Bonuses? Don't Make Me Laugh
Spouting off on outlandish compensation
By Kaye A. Thomas
Posted October 21, 2009
I should be so lucky.
It makes me mad, those huge bonuses being paid by the banks. The bankers made a mess of our economy, we bailed them out, and now they’re getting rich.
It’s not that I’m jealous. David Letterman pulls down eight figures and I’m fine with that. The way I understand it, CBS is willing to pay all that money because his show turns a profit for the network. Letterman could move the show, and much of the profit, to ABC if he didn’t like his current deal. His pay is outlandish, but I can’t criticize CBS for offering a huge salary, or Letterman for accepting it.
The same thing is going on at the banks, of course. That’s another business where an individual’s talent and connections can produce millions in profits for the employer. If the bank doesn’t offer pay in proportion to those profits, the individual can take his or her talent and connections — and profits — elsewhere. The banks would be foolish not to offer these huge bonuses, and the recipients would be foolish not to accept them.
These bankers, though, aren’t like Letterman. They don’t make me laugh, except perhaps in a bitter, cynical way. In fact, they don’t seem to do anything of value — other than, well, making it possible for our economy function. If it weren’t for that, the whole stinking lot could go down the tubes as far as I’m concerned.
