Is this Behavior acceptable to you? Is it fair capitalism?

"DJ Despite Mortgages Crisis Woes, Wall St Bonuses Rise 14%


By Joe Bel Bruno
Of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP)--This might have been one of Wall Street's most dismal years in a decade, but that hasn't stopped bonus checks from rising an average of 14%.
Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) and Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC) - will pay out about $49.6 billion in compensation this year. Of that, bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60%, or almost $30 billion.
But that might not sit well with investors who held on to investment bank stocks this year - and watched them plunge by up to 45%. Investment houses have been slammed by the credit crisis, and top executives this past week said they've yet to see a bottom."

Pls feel free to Hate the message,but do not hate the messenger-observer!

Since I do not own shares in the companies, I think it is acceptable. Management has the right to compensate employees as they see fit.

If I was a customer, I wold still think it is acceptable. The money does not come out of my pocket, it comes out the the shareholders.

As a small shareholder, my shareholder vote would not count for much. Even though I lost money for the year, I believe it that it was not the employees fault as most finanacial companies lost money and stock value this year. If I cared, I would sell the stock. I doubt that this would change my mind though as the loss of stock price should have been enough for a short term trader. I long term invester might buy more.

Welcome to the world.

Middle classes hold on tight, there won't be many left in a decade or so.

While I would agree in principle that WS bonuses have been obscene over the last few years, I'm going to have to jump in here and accuse you and the paper of being out of touch.

There are many folks on Wall Street (like me) don't have a GD thing to do with mortgages. Please notice that the stock market ended UP for the year as did MANY of the things the brokerage houses actually manage.

If you aren't going to give people a bonus when they actually make money, when do you propose they should get it?

And, the fact that a bunch of idiots lost a ton of your money doing something you should have known was stupid is all the more reason to pay me for doing something smart with the money I manage. (So I'll continue to ignore the rantings of idiots next year when I'm managing what's left of your money)

<end of rant>

generally, no...this isn't anything horrible.
For starters, those responsible for the falling out in these companies' stocks are no longer working at these companies...I mean CEOs have been axed for this fallout. Does that mean everyone else gets burned for that?
Nope.
That would be like you not getting a raise this year because your Regional Manager sucked this year. Who cares about him, you busted your tail!!
So these bonuses went into areas that received positive results and per the contracts of the money coming in, the bonuses went out to the income these areas brought to the company's bottomline.
Moreover, if one company skips on the bonus (as most of these people count on the bonus as it is taken into consideration into their salaries. So you drop that off and its like a waiter missing tips for the whole year.) And if one company skips out, than they would experience a massive 'brain-drain' as their talent would leave to another company that would pay better.
The salary structure of these companies is very tricky and warped. It is done so that competitors cannot poach employees. So they all design their own constructive way to issue out paychecks with bonuses being the biggest caveat to a person's pay.

So there is nothing wrong with what is going on here once you truly understand the business and realize that heads have rolled and will continue to roll for the errors within this sector...but that doesn't mean everyone has to suffer.

Get rich quick schemes in the capitalist business world, (buyouts, IPOs, conglomerates, acquisitions, mergers, and the stock market), do not actually work. Remaining solvent does not actually exist within false economics capitalism.

Profit existing in the capitalist business world, or millionaires existing within capitalism, is pathological deception committed by the 21 organizations spying on the population with plain clothes agents, (with covert fake names and fake backgrounds).

Actual economics is the persons paying the monthly business loan payments of companies voting at work in order to control the property they are paying for.

Capitalism is the psychology of imaginary parents, false economics, and the criminal deception of employees that are paying the bills (including the stocks and bonds, or shares) of companies.

Anti-Democracy republicanism is the psychology of imaginary parents, and false government.