Our new Commander & Chief bashed Wall Street the other day, particularly the high payout of bonuses, saying "This is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful." (Thanks!)
But, not everyone thinks Wall Street bonuses should be banned. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has gone on the record stating that taking away the big bonuses will actually make the economy worse, at least in NY. He pointed out to CNN today that the lack of bonus money will lead to more unemployment, which will trickle down to less spending overall, and therefore will have even more of a negative impact than leaving them in place.
I tend to agree, but there is a time and a place. I mean, of course we all want to get our hands on a nice juicy bonus, but I'd rather stay employed and get a bonus when the economy picks back up (assuming that ever happens) then have millions doled out now, only to have more firms collapse a few months down the road and end up unemployed, living in a box and begging for a taste of stale whiskey.
Interesting take, and you gotta respect the guy for speaking out for what he believes, because it certainly isn't the popular opinion. Then again, when has Rudy ever conformed?
What do you guys think?
Just like Affluenza stated "..but there is a time and a place." There is a reason why Obama is the President and Giuliani (though he's the man!) could not make it pass the Mayor; running a city is perhaps just a "little" bit different than running a country.
Regardless, Giuliani deserves an A for the effort and speaking up! May be next time I would be all ears - but this time around, I am just happy to have a job!
I think Obama is fine with bonuses as long as they aren't provided by taxpayers. Also, do you really think bankers are going on spending sprees these days? Nobody's burning down Bergdof's right now. Those bonuses propably get locked up in savings accounts and TIPS.
another thing is that the less the bankers make, the less they get taxed, and the less money Obama gets to spend on all these things he wants to do
When Wall St. makes bank, everyone wins - it trickles down. From the deli shops owned by immigrants and other small businesses that cater to the wall street crowd, to the bridges and roads and after-school programs that finally have funding because of increased tax revenue.
people forget about that - all these things that they want have to be paid for and it has to come from somewhere. As much as the democrats rail against the top 2% "special interests" guess what they pay 40% of all taxes i.e. they pay for the stuff you're trying to get through congress
Besides 100% of the bonuses paid out by some banks were TARP money. The govt only got back 40% of that.
the important part he was talking about was it would hurt nyc.
it wouldnt anyone else.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bonuses-no-luxury-for-some-apf-14214242.h…
great article
The mass media in this country is obsessed with singling out one group that is responsible for problems. In this case, wall street is the scape-goat. We get tagged as the source of all economic problems with the world's finger pointing our way when looking to place blame.
Obama is a genius at appealing to the populist mentality and his little speech on this year's bonuses is no different. Anyone with half a brain understands that the economic issues facing the world right now don't fit into a pretty little box with a singular group that is solely to blame. Obama probably understands this too, but all of his liberal (socialist) cohorts would gasp in disgust if he responded any other way when asked about wall street bonuses.
Obama is really disappointing, I understand the necessities of politics, but he is just so consistently insincere. The man seems intelligent, and you don't get to be editor of Harvard law by being dumb, but it'd be nice to think he was governing rather than appealing to the lowest common denominator. It seems Giuliani at least is willing to take a stand for reason.
Wonder what this will do for his campaign contributions. Wall street remembers much longer than your average peon.
I understand the necessity of the bonus system - considering that most employees get the bulk of their salary in bonus. They can't remove the bonus structure without properly adjusting base salaries which are typically low.
It's tough not to emphasize with public sentiment though because these banks simply are not profitable and a bulk of the bonuses paid out over the past few years derive directly from profits made on trades and investments now gone sour. Without being able to retract any of that money, some sort of balancing act is necessary and the fact that the taxpayers are shouldering the brunt of it given the dire state of the banks, how can we not expect public outrage.
But yea, this is really bad for NY. Makes me wonder how the city will cope going forward.
fingerpointing at wallstreet for the cause of this crisis is just a sucker's behavior!!
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