Wall Street profits down / Bonuses up – When will Americans say enough?
Ed Schultz points out that the American worker continues to get thrown under the bus. The average American worker gets no bonuses. Moreover when their productivity fall or their company’s profits falter, they are lucky to keep their wages let alone get raises.
Lo and behold, Wall Street profits were down in 2014. Is America a meritocracy? Is it not true that Wall Street claim they deserve their high bonuses and salaries because of the risks they take? Likewise if they do not perform, are they warranted a raise?
It is evident that what applies to the average American citizen does not apply to Wall Street. MarketWatch reports the following.
Last year, the brokers did OK. But it’s clear they’re headed in the wrong direction. And, save for a couple of good years, things haven’t been great for the Brokers since 2007. It’s been a long time rebuilding. Not as long as the Knicks, but hey, you’re not James Dolan.
If you owned this team, you might do a lot of things. It’s safe to say what you would not do is give everyone a raise. But guess what? The Brokers are getting a raise of 2%.
The average Wall Street bonus rose to $172,860 in 2014, even though profitability of the broker/dealer divisions of New York Stock Exchange member firms fell 4.5% to $16 billion, according to the annual bonus report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
These folks that are nothing but ‘legal gamblers’ are a cancer to our economy. They make ill deserved income irrespective of their performance even as they produce no product or service.
One of the biggest fears of the painter who can sell a blank canvas as art is that those that purchase art will realize how stupid they are for purchasing something that is worthless. One hopes the average American worker will make the titans of finance on Wall Street fear that they will be exposed. After all, a much more effective and efficient economic paradigm may be on the horizon.