The Politics Of Envy

[Newt]

"giving 110%, being too dim to realize what that implies"

 

That they are maths impaired? That would be bad for a banking person.

[Elton]

I can understand people being angry with the banking sector, but what do people actually expect to do when they get this figure of people paid over £1m (and why £1m? What's so special about that number?).

 

Let's say, for example, they comply and come up with a figure. Let's call that number, say, '74'.

 

What are you going to do with 74? It's just a number.

[Steve Walker]

I think it's quite right that we are told how much these parasites are bleeding off us. It's not like they are any good at their jobs or the financial meltdown wouldn't have happened, would it?

 

Bonuses in investment banking are performance related. If you don't do your job well, you don't get a bonus. If you don't get a bonus, you will probably also get fired. It's a very hard-nosed environment, and people will do whatever it is that they are going to be judged on come bonus time - usually that's a simple question of "how much money did you earn for the bank this year". They will do their job to the letter, but don't expect them to give a sh*t about the long term future of the bank or the health of the economy if that is not what they are being judged on.

 

The question you ought to ask is whether the factors their bonuses are tied to are the objectives that the bank actually needs.

[Alan Stubbs]

I had quite a heated discussion last night with SWMBI (I = ignored)

 

I felt that the earners of large bonuses should not be named, because the total salary bill is included in the annual report and accounts. Director's emoluments have to be declared separately.

 

The issue as I looked at it is simply that the bonus is earned for achieving benchmarks set by a manager / directir and frequently is supplemental to a fairly low basic salary - so it is strongly performance driven.

 

If people have an issue with this, isn't it the directors who are ultimately responsible for overseeing the activities of those who jeopardise investors' funds. If the underlings were found to be operating outside the parameters laid down, they'd be taking the Nick Leeson walk soon enough.

 

It would appear that the possibly less than straightforward Lord Myners is incapable of seeing the obvious here.

[ColinW]

"giving 110%, being too dim to realize what that implies"

 

That they are maths impaired? That would be bad for a banking person.

 

Exactly!

They do, however, know which direction to pass the port.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

The facts are quite simple, no one in your local bank will earn a million pounds, it is the back room wheelers and dealers who get a high commission, to be quite blunt the bl**dy idiots that purchased all of these so called good deals from the USA mortgage market that were worthless, that is what brought the banks down and caused the world recession.

 

And who will have to suffer to pay the bill, lowly tax payers not the idiots who started the problems they are already getting stuck into the trough the tax payers had to fill.

 

They should separate the savings and UK high street markets from the wheelers and dealers and let them play with someone else's money, then they can screw it for every penny because it will not be tax payers money.

[corydoras]

They are'nt looking for names of those earning over £1m but what the govt. are looking for is the banks that have been bailed out by the public purse to get their own house in order and stop paying out bonus' to people who already get paid for doing their job irrespective of whether they do it well or not and in the latter case thats why the taxpayer had to bail them out

Do you really think that the banks that got themselves into such a mess got that way because they were paying out to much in bonuses? I've heard them all now.

[GlennB]

The issue as I looked at it is simply that the bonus is earned for achieving benchmarks set by a manager / directir and frequently is supplemental to a fairly low basic salary - so it is strongly performance driven.

 

there we have it - instead of some meaningless number of people earning £1m plus, why not also publish the targets that people have to meet to earn these sums?

If it turns out to be "avoid death before 31st March next year" then there might be cause for complaint. Business these days is all about 'measurability' but the general public have no idea what these performance benchmarks actually are.

[corydoras]

The facts are quite simple, no one in your local bank will earn a million pounds, it is the back room wheelers and dealers who get a high commission, to be quite blunt the bl**dy idiots that purchased all of these so called good deals from the USA mortgage market that were worthless, that is what brought the banks down and caused the world recession.

 

And who will have to suffer to pay the bill, lowly tax payers not the idiots who started the problems they are already getting stuck into the trough the tax payers had to fill.

 

They should separate the savings and UK high street markets from the wheelers and dealers and let them play with someone else's money, then they can screw it for every penny because it will not be tax payers money.

Just like Barclays do. Barclays Retail and Barclays Capital are two totally seperate entities. Barclays didn't go running cap-in-hand to the government for a bail out.

[Steve Walker]

They should separate the savings and UK high street markets from the wheelers and dealers and let them play with someone else's money, then they can screw it for every penny because it will not be tax payers money.

 

Where will the money for mortgages and business loans come from? Where will the return on investment to fund pensions come from? People complain about the effects of the "credit crunch", but that's what happens when the wheelers and dealers get scared and stop playing with other people's money. The solution to not letting this happen again is probably not to lend money to people who aren't rich, but that doesn't tie in very well with the government hectoring the banks to start lending again!