Wall Street bonuses to drop big in 2011, survey says
Occupy Wall Street protestors are now taking their plight on the move, but perhaps they oughta stay.
Maybe things are working, after all.
Alright, well, certainly each goal of the Occupy movement, which is hoping to, among other things, even out society’s wealth distribution, hasn’t been attained, yet as some members of the campaign’s New York incarnation plan a two-week march to Washington, here’s a little news that might ring sweet to protestors’ ears.
Wall Street bonuses, this year at least, look set to plummet.
According to a survey from compensation watchdog Johnson Associates, bonuses paid to Wall Street executives will fall by an average of 20 to 30 per cent in 2011.
*Bing: What Wall Street exec gets the largest annual bonuses?
The sharpest drops in compensation will come to those who work in trading and investment banking, usually Wall Street’s most profitable businesses, Johnson Associates notes.
Of course, any decrease in Wall Street compensation should be considered relative. The lowest Wall Street worker earns a base salary of $100,000, according to the New York Times, and $1 million for top executives is easily within reach.
But what’s most remarkable about the Johnson survey is that the dip in bonuses, which make up much of a Wall Street worker’s annual income, will be the largest decrease since the recession.
So, if you’re scoring at home, Wall Street didn’t reign itself in during 2008 when the downturn first reared its head, nor did it in 2009 and 2010 when revenues tumbled and entire freaking 160-year-old institutions up and vanished.
No, it took a slump in trading profits and new Dodd-Frank regulations, which have raised the cost of doing business, for banking and investment firms to finally get the picture.
That picture, though, is one where Lloyd Blankfein should still easily clear an eight-figure bonus in forecasted times of so-called restraint.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Mark | Nov 9, 2021 5:16:29 PM
Geez, that's awful, maybe we can take up a collection for them. After all when you have 3 homes, a country house, helicopter and a large yacht to maintain, a cut to your bonus is serious bussiness. Life really is unfair.
Posted by: Louis | Nov 9, 2021 5:31:00 PM
Salaries, bonuses and stock options for executives and directors of public companies should be voted on by the shareholders of each company each year at the annual meetings This will prevent personal greed from playing a role in executive decisions.
Posted by: KARL V | Nov 9, 2021 8:54:03 PM
TAX BREAKS 4 RICH OUT OF CONTROL SIMPLY RICH ASSISTING RICH GREED THERE OTHER WORDS 4 THIS .... LETS LEVEL PLAYING FIELD SIMPLY FLAT TAX
Posted by: CONSERVATIVEONLY | Nov 11, 2021 7:22:25 AM
I agree with Louis - compensation needs to have shareholder input/approval. A flat tax would benefit the rich more since the top 20% pays 80% of the income tax revenue in the USA while 50% pay no tax at all, so Karl V is incorrect.
Posted by: Grace | Nov 11, 2021 11:01:31 AM
I have a question or maybe its a comment....I understand that CEO's do a heck of a lot of work making sure a company runs smoothly and all that stuff. But if it wasn't for the employee's at the bottom of the company chain keeping the work flow moving and helping the CEO make sure the company runs smoothly, then the CEO wouldn't exist. So why is it that the CEO gets the million dollar bonus and the bottom of the company employees, get the five dollar bonus? Just wondering.
Posted by: Bill Giamou | Nov 11, 2021 11:54:53 AM
Show me a CEO worth more than $1M and I will show you a welfare recipient who deserves free money! These are two ends of the rainbow that should be hacked off and buried immediately, but hey....who listens to the ordinary guy who gets up every morning and goes to works and pays his taxes and prays that a flying BMW does not crash into him on the highway?