What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses

By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived.

Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller.

While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.

Some bankers took home millions last year even as their employers lost billions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Maybe the banks are paying their executives according to their ability to get handouts from the feds.

These assholes failed in every respect - they failed their shareholders, their employees, and, most importantly, the American citizens who paid for their bad bets. Any person at the level of manager or above who played any part in the decision-making process to start making these incredibly risky loans and buying these stinking securities should be fired as of today and forfeit any and all assets they accumulated while reaping the benefits of their schemes.

Who in the hell pays bonuses when your company loses money? I know my company sure as hell won't. I should have gone into banking. Incompetence and stupidity are apparently no obstacle to spectacular wealth in that field.