Happy Bonus Season!
| Fri Oct. 30, 2009 7:36 AM PDT
Good news! The financial industry plans to pick up the stimulus slack as the government's efforts start to tail off next quarter:
Having shaken off the biggest economic decline since the 1930s, almost three in five traders, analysts and fund managers believe their 2009 bonuses will either increase or won’t change, according to a quarterly poll of Bloomberg customers. Only one in four see a decline. Asians are the most optimistic about pay and Americans and Europeans somewhat less so.
“The large banks are knocking the cover off the ball,” said Daniel Alpert, managing director of New York-based investment bank Westwood Capital LLC. The industry is “making money, though with government help.”
Worldwide, a majority of market professionals in the survey also turn thumbs down on government attempts to limit compensation, with 51 percent saying restrictions will stifle useful innovation. Only about 38 percent think pay limits will control excessive risk-taking.
There are still some naysayers out there, like Mark Borges, a compensation consultant at Compensia Inc., who says the survey results "give some fuel to the people who claim that Wall Street hasn't really gotten it." But me? I'm just grateful that bankers are going to be part of the economic recovery of struggling Porsche dealerships and Cape Cod real estate agents. I'd say they get it just fine.
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Comments
profiteers
Submitted by g. powell on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 7:48 AM PDT.
Don't worry, I'm sure the tea-baggers are as outraged about the financial industry profiteering on the government dollar as they are about the public option. So I'm certain we'll see mass demonstrations from them as they defend the public interest.
Good luck making money without government help
Submitted by Walker (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 7:51 AM PDT.
"The financial industry plans to pick up the stimulus slack as the government's efforts start to slow down next quarter:"
That assumes that their business model allows them to run such profits without heavy government financing. Don't see a lot of people running to buy new securities these days.
These People are Financial Genyuses
Submitted by alex (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 8:06 AM PDT.
Seriously, and the greatest investment they ever made was buying the US government.
These are strange times. When else have the AFL-CIO and the American Enterprise Institute ever agreed on anything? They do now: Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Proposed Bank "Oversight" Bill Will Make Things Worse
"stifle innovation" indeed.
Submitted by David in NY (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 8:06 AM PDT.
God, I wish somebody had stifled the innovations that put us in this fix. And I'm definitely in favor of anything that will curb them in the future.
But you can't stifle the
Submitted by JBG724 (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 8:31 AM PDT.
But you can't stifle the banks. They're responsible for all that we make in the US anymore...asset bubbles.
"useful
Submitted by Bruce the Canuck (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 9:12 AM PDT.
"useful innovation"???!?!!?!??
Who the F#%$ do they think they are?
the alter
Submitted by rbe1 (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 12:20 PM PDT.
Kevin, you need to take a breather worshipping at the alter of capitalism. Too many of these people are sociopathic losers, not much to admire.
This bolster the case for the reappointment of Bernanke.
Submitted by Quiddity who can't login as Quiddity (not verified) on Fri Oct. 30, 2009 1:32 PM PDT.
And while we're at it, can we give Geithner more power to disburse funds to banks?
