So what Wall Street is saying is that Washington is all bark, no bite. They may be right about that too. Besides the high level of comfort amongst Wall Street types that their bonus will be fat again this year is the kicker at the end. Only on Wall Street would anyone suggest that making a six figure base salary is low. Yes, if that was the total income the argument makes sense due to the high cost of living in Manhattan. However, when that is half or a third of your total income (as is generally the case in the industry) it's totally ridiculous.
If the bankers were so worried about their "commission" being hit then maybe they ought to re-think the business model. Selling garbage and then paying the price because everyone (except Geithner) realized it was trash sounds more like a personal problem. There's no reason why the middle class ought to fund these arrogant freeloaders who can't turn a corporate profit.
According to the survey, 83 percent of Wall Street professionals expect to receive bonuses this year, and one-third expect to receive even bigger bonuses than they did in 2008.
"You can't change 200 years of history overnight," said John Benson, founder and CEO of eFinancialCareers.com. "...Changing the pay structure is going to be an iterative process, because there are always unintended consequences to every change."
