Paul Krugman of the Times wrote an interesting perspective on the hearing. Seems folks are upset about the 100 billion or so in bonuses our financial system will pay out this year for doing such a cracker jack job. When pressed, these braintrusts always fall back on "we have to pay them that to retain the best talent". Hmmmmm and they wonder why we think they are brain dead.
Take your job. You are talented otherwise you might not have it (ass kissing aside). But if you went to your boss and said "I want 4 times my salary in a bonus or I'm walking out of here and going to the competition" just how fast would that door slam shut on your backside. Right now it is an employers market and that goes for banks and financial players. They can call the tune and if some idiot at AIG doesn't like it, well screw him and toss him out. He didn't do a bang up job there. No one did a bang up job there. Certainly no one at Citi did anything other than draw a paycheck and if we hadn't (we as in the government) given a 100% guarantee to Citi they would be in the tank - or do I have to show you the stock chart for the past couple years?
Come to think of it, here it is. If you turned in a two year performance record like this and went to your boss and said, hey, my productivity value just dropped 80% - give me a bonus.....
