Wall Street greed...

Last Friday, Sen. Claire McCaskill took to the Senate floor and said what I imagine (I hope) a lot of us have been thinking about Wall Street lately: "They don't get it. These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses...What planet are these people on?"1
Sen. McCaskill was reacting, and rightly so, to the $18.4 billion in bonuses that Wall Street bankers took home in 2008. $18.4 billion going to the people who crippled our economy with their recklessness and greed and then took $700 billion of our money.2
Yesterday, President Obama took an important first step, limiting pay at companies taking bailouts going forward.3 But Congress is considering going even further, applying the limits retroactively and even taking back some of the most extravagant bonuses at firms that took taxpayer money.4
Wall Street's defenders make all kinds of excuses about why the bonuses were justified. They say that bonuses are an accepted part of compensation packages on Wall Street, that those receiving bonuses weren't the ones who lost their firms billions of dollars, and that they need to pay bonuses to retain top talent.6 Those arguments are outrageous. If automatic bonuses are a part of Wall Street culture, that culture has to change—a firm that's still afloat only because of huge taxpayer bailouts shouldn't be paying bonuses. And while tens of thousands of Wall Street employees are losing their jobs, it's hard to believe that those still employed will go looking for new positions because they didn't get a bonus. Sen. McCaskill showed courage standing up to the status quo.
A huge public outcry will give them momentum and push them to real action and one of my favorites sites, MoveOn.org is sponsoring a petition and by signing it you can add your name and urge Congress to act now to rein in Wall Street greed.5
http://pol.moveon.org/bonus/o.pl?id=15503-10017720-TzPCyZx&t=3



Sources:
1. "McCaskill Proposes Compensation Cap For Private Companies Getting Federal Dollars," Senate Newsroom, January 30, 2009 http://mccaskill.senate.gov/newsroom/vid_013009.cfm
2. "What Red Ink? Wall St. Paid Fat Bonuses," The New York Times, January 28, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/business/29bonus.html
3. "Obama Outlines Limits on Executive Pay," The Washington Post, February 5, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51145&id=15503-10017720-TzPCyZx&t=5
4. "Despite Treasury's New Rule, Senators Aren't Giving Up Their Push to Cap CEO Pay," TPMDC, February 4, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51146&id=15503-10017720-TzPCyZx&t=6
5. Daniel Mintz, MoveOn.org Political Action
6."'Meet the Press' transcript for Feb. 1, 2009," MSNBC.com, February 1, 2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28964188/page/5/