Sunday, Dec 06, 2009
Big bonuses are only the symptom
Sunday Times: The great RBS exodus: 1,000 bankers quit over bonus row
Adam Smith said something like "If the price of something remains inordinately high then it is not operating in a completely free market".
In other words big bonuses for banks are not the problem they are the symptom. As the article says: " Investment banks' [staff], however, are enjoying a boom in profits due to the loss of competition in the sector after the demise of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns ".
Posted by voiceofreason @ 08:26 AM (1634 views) Add Comment
20 Comments
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1. Eternal Sceptic said...
Pure greed and arrogance. If bankers had been such a stunning success, why did they need bailing out? I can only assume failure is rewarded. Perhaps prisoners should be given a bonus as well, at least their reasons for incarceration were not hidden by smoke and mirrors. And lets give the unemployed a couple of million each for their inability to find a job. The list could go on. 5 million for doctors, each time they kill a patient.
I have no issue with good work being rewarded, but any bonus should be based on long term results, and paid with company shares 10 years later.
2. tenyearstogetmymoneyback said...
"The latest high-profile defector is Fiona Paulus, a senior corporate financier who advised Tata Steel on its takeover of Corus and the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola on its acquisition of Scottish Power."
While I have no doubt on her professional ability I reckon the country is better off without her -
unless someone has a plan to sell off the Labour party so they can wreck someone elses country.
3. paul said...
Yes, does anyone not see the irony that although she no doubt earned a fat fee, she was advising an Indian bargain bucket how to take over the UK's last remaining steel producer.
'Tata' is Welsh for shit by the way. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
4. crunchy said...
2. paul I sense your comments becoming more realistic lol, but let's not forget the massive potential revenue of the soon to be attacked coal industry. All for the fluffy white polar bears that by the way can't swim???
5. crunchy said...
"however, are enjoying a boom in profits due to the loss of competition in the sector after the demise of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns ". and the rest.
Engineered? No way they said kicking and screaming. Keep watching further future developments and see who gains.
6. paul said...
Crunchy, I've no idea what you're trying to infer from 'your comments becoming more realistic' but to be honest you're a bit of a tin foil hatter dwelling in a reality I'm not sure I want to be a part of.
Anyway. Corus makes steel, not coal.
7. who stole my pension? said...
Let em all go. They haven't don us any favours. All they have done is left us with a massive amount of debt to pay off. They don't take risks - all the risk are for the tax payer so they shouldn't be paid any more than say a nurse. Anyway if you look at all the scandals such as Endowment miss-selling etc the whole industry is corrrupt and has done us no favours.
8. cyril said...
@3 - crunchy - What is the connection between bankers quitting and polar bears being unable to swim? (oh, and by the way, you're wrong about polar bears - they can swim).
9. Crunchy said...
5. paul said "but to be honest you're a bit of a tin foil hatter dwelling in a reality I'm not sure I want to be a part of."
That's the problem, but you are getting there, I can see it. Like it of not, it is inevitable no matter how much you have invested in their reality. Time is all it will take.
7. cyril said "oh, and by the way, you're wrong about polar bears - they can swim)"
Exactly, and extremely well too, that's why I put a ? at the end. You see some vested interests would have some thinking they are very poor swimmers to support certain profitable agendas and to play on the gullibles emotions. That's how much we are underestimated.
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2009/07/polar_bear_swin.html This should get you asking some questions about why Al Gore, not me, has said in the past that polar bears can't swim.
Can anyone tell me whether William Hill has a bet offer on the outcome of the forthcoming Copenhagen fiasco. I would love to make some money on everything being ramed through, regardless of recents cover ups.
Tin foil hat? Yeah right!
10. crunchy said...
Check back on this subject it may appear later. Pressed the wrong button. It will be worth it.
11. icarus said...
Although they did a lot to recapitalise the banks governments could, politically, do only so much. So they fixed the game so that a monkey in a suit could make the profits that the banks required to get out of trouble. Bonuses? Give 'em nuts and berries.
12. bystander said...
Literally anyone could have mae money on the markets over the past 8/9months - literally all hares went up. How on earth do these parasiotes get of demanding the bonuses, on money made of the back of my childrens, unborne children - 'talent' b*ll*cks - may they all burn in hell.
13. bystander said...
meant made not mae,shares not hares, parasites not parasiotes and off not of - this sure as hell winds me up
14. crunchy said...
11. bystander
Stay off the booze. At least what I say makes sense to some and doesn't get me banned. The ambiguities!!!??? I luv em.
Icarus, it deosn't suit you, as with the sun and water. lol
15. bystander said...
I've calmed down now. The vast majority of those who work in the financial services sectors do a worthwhile job, but it anoys me when I feel we are being held to ransom by this small minority, as it has in the past with strike action by numerous unions. The governments have no backbone and the financiers hold all the strings - I keep on expecting GB to break into a chorus of "I've got no strings", but even though we cannot see them it doesn't mean they are not there.
16. icarus said...
crunchy 12 - unfair to judge me by today's standards of aviation.
bystander 13 - don't forget that those on the other side of the class warfare game are much better organised than unions or workers' movements.
17. crunchy said...
14, Fewer to agree with and benefits appear to be greater old man.
18. markj69 str05 said...
Refreashing to see a bit of ranting going on. So how does 'joe average' express his opinion in a formal manner? I thought I heard something about a petition on the radio on Friday. Is that the only tool we have in our kitbag?
I also think it was bumbling ex-labour 'right hook' chap - Seemed to be talking some sense. Or at least his opinions seemed to be closely aligned with my own. Bucking Fanker - Let them all emigrate to pastures new.
19. markj69 str05 said...
Old Gordy Brown and his cronies have an awful lot to answer for. They may not have caused the catastrophy, but they certainly didn't manage and regulate (Or put into place a worthwile organisation to regulate), the people who caused it.
Gen' election in a few months - They shouldn't have a chance. What with MP expenses scandel, Large portion of UK disagreeing with Iraq/Afgan', their inability to manage and regulate key organisations that have such a huge impact on the economy, and now the fact they couldn't even manage the mopping up exercise. How on earth they caould have pumped so much money into the banks without taking/gaining any control for their actions in the short term, or long term. Irresponsible beyond comprehension. No accountability.
Not sure if Conserv's or Lib's will do any better. But as I have said before - We have to make an example of them. No individual scapegoats - Just the whole lot.
20. markj69 str05 said...
Scandal