Give Me the $Money$:Shock & Awe – The Wall Street Bonuses

November 4, 2009

They clearly play by their own rules. They live in a kind of retro-world, where big money rewards loyalty and closed mouths more than it rewards true performance. It is a very different culture in which they reside; and at its foundation is a tribal mentality where its insiders stand tough together against the sometimes raucous onslaught of public opinion.

Their bonuses are often paid out of revenue rather than out of net profits. Particularly insofar as compensation, their insider world is one of excess. The public is assured that this is very necessary and that it is all entirely proper; that absent such rewards there would be no way to retain top talent. And as they’re so fond of saying again and again; such huge institutions simply cannot be allowed to fail.

It is a shell game, though; one where the house is made up of insiders who rarely lose. And their hard work of betting other people’s money is rewarded regardless of the financial bottom line. The words shame and embarrassment might as well be foreign expressions in this culture. Plus they prove to be severely handicapped when it comes to seeing or hearing any of the public outrage or the indignant cries of the stockholders.

As is so often the case politically, Washington regularly spews forth a virtual torrent of empty words that seem to have no significant effect; all of them falling onto deaf and uncaring ears. They say it is "business as usual." They are, they tell us, entitled to their just due. And yes, they say, while they're stuffing their latest rewards into their very deep pockets, it’s just too bad that America at large has fallen on bad times and is having to suffer.

But in the end, their true failure is to be found in failing to recognize that the world has changed. It’s really no longer "business as usual." And it’s time that Wall Street took note of this stark reality; that they denied themselves their self-anointed exceptional-ism, vacated their ivory towers and took up residence with the rest of America in a very real and sometimes very difficult world.