And the White House has been worried about being anti-business? Are you kidding me? The worst part about this is that the White House is again going easy on Wall Street and not pushing them on the foreclosure abuse problem. The theory apparently is that the banks can't be pushed too hard or else it will hurt the economy. No, the problem is that the banks care only about obscene bonus money and that is eating into what little profits are left after the bailout money has been spent.
The business model is unsustainable without more bailouts. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Democrat in the White House who could understand why Americans are so upset and then bother to do something about it? This is offensive, but hey, Wall Street knows that it can trample over the White House and Congress without repercussions. WSJ:
Pay on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, according to a study conducted by The Wall Street Journal.
About three dozen of the top publicly held securities and investment-services firms—which include banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges—are set to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to the survey. Compensation was expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms.
The data showed that revenue was expected to rise at 29 of the 35 firms surveyed, but at a slower pace than pay. Wall Street revenue is expected to rise 3%, to $448 billion from $433 billion, despite a slowdown in some high-profile activities like stock and bond trading.
