<story><title>Banks Paid $32.6B in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout (2009)</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&amp;sid=aHURVoSUqpho</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>javiramos</author><text>Yeah, but when the bank needs loans to stay in business it shouldn&amp;#x27;t be paying out bonuses. Particularly so if the government (i.e. taxpayers&amp;#x2F;us) went through giant efforts and took a significant amount of risk to hand out these &amp;#x27;loans&amp;#x27;.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I believe that the bailout was needed and it did (IMO) prevent significant negative ripples from flowing through our financial system. What I really despise is the lack of discipline and regulatory oversight during the bailout process. This left a very sour taste in many struggling Americans and demonstrated that our political structures are incapable of focused, regulated, and disciplined action.</text></item><item><author>tomp</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t mean to detract from your point, but you have to keep in mind the fact that those were loans, and the government actually made money on those loans (AFAIK). Also, if the damage to the economy would be greater than the taxpayer loss of the bail-outs, they still make sense, as long as they are accompanied by legislation that makes hem less likely in the future (which, sadly, hasn&amp;#x27;t happened yet).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Also I clearly need a job in banking...&lt;p&gt;If you want to become a good cook, get a cooking job. If you want to earn good money, get a money (banking) job :)</text></item><item><author>tormeh</author><text>&amp;gt;“When the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well,” Cuomo’s office said in the 22-page report. “When the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well. Bonuses and overall compensation did not vary significantly as profits diminished.”&lt;p&gt;Waaat. I think the government should stop bailing out businesses. Either you let the company go bankrupt or you nationalize.&lt;p&gt;Also I clearly need a job in banking...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zv-</author><text>Those banks had contracts with the executives, saying they would get the bonuses if X metrics were met (likely what it was, maybe it was just a straight bonus every year, and the assumption is that they would be fired if they didn&amp;#x27;t preform). Those contracts don&amp;#x27;t go away because of a bailout.&lt;p&gt;I would be interested in legislation that changes this. If a private bank (I don&amp;#x27;t think there are many truly private banks anymore) wants to give whatever bonuses it wants, I really don&amp;#x27;t care.&lt;p&gt;But once public money is involved, I agree we need some strict controls.</text></comment>
<story><title>Banks Paid $32.6B in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout (2009)</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&amp;sid=aHURVoSUqpho</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>javiramos</author><text>Yeah, but when the bank needs loans to stay in business it shouldn&amp;#x27;t be paying out bonuses. Particularly so if the government (i.e. taxpayers&amp;#x2F;us) went through giant efforts and took a significant amount of risk to hand out these &amp;#x27;loans&amp;#x27;.&lt;p&gt;EDIT: I believe that the bailout was needed and it did (IMO) prevent significant negative ripples from flowing through our financial system. What I really despise is the lack of discipline and regulatory oversight during the bailout process. This left a very sour taste in many struggling Americans and demonstrated that our political structures are incapable of focused, regulated, and disciplined action.</text></item><item><author>tomp</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t mean to detract from your point, but you have to keep in mind the fact that those were loans, and the government actually made money on those loans (AFAIK). Also, if the damage to the economy would be greater than the taxpayer loss of the bail-outs, they still make sense, as long as they are accompanied by legislation that makes hem less likely in the future (which, sadly, hasn&amp;#x27;t happened yet).&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Also I clearly need a job in banking...&lt;p&gt;If you want to become a good cook, get a cooking job. If you want to earn good money, get a money (banking) job :)</text></item><item><author>tormeh</author><text>&amp;gt;“When the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well,” Cuomo’s office said in the 22-page report. “When the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well. Bonuses and overall compensation did not vary significantly as profits diminished.”&lt;p&gt;Waaat. I think the government should stop bailing out businesses. Either you let the company go bankrupt or you nationalize.&lt;p&gt;Also I clearly need a job in banking...</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>easytiger</author><text>How do you think banks work? They are see-saws of money on one big balance sheet.&lt;p&gt;Also the regulatory situation in Europe is still much more stringent than in the US. In US banking there are a load of utter time wasting rules that provide little sanity to the issues suffered</text></comment>