The Audacity of Wall Street Bonuses

I just finished reading an article in today's New York Times reporting on Wall Street bonuses that having been tied to profits we now know were based on way too much risk, created a culture of greed so severe, they played Russian roulette with our money.

Now that all of the money is lost and many Wall Street firms are bankrupt with the rest blatantly staving of death with large infusions of taxpayer dollars, the culture of greed still has not subsided. Though many firms have introduced more oversight with respect to the earning of future bonuses, most Wall Streeters will still see bonuses this year, smaller maybe, but still a bonus.

It took the Dow Industrials 76 years to hit 1000 in November 1972 and another 14 years to reach 2000 in January 1987. After that, it took another 4 years to reach 3000 and 4000 was reached 4 years later in February 1995. By May 1999, a mere 4 years later, the Dow had reached 11,000 and boy were we jumping. The sheer intensity of the rise certainly reset all of our mindsets. In the early 2000s, instant millionaires abounded, individual wealth on paper reach staggering proportions. Wall street bonuses catapulted into unheard-of millions. Everybody wanted to be rich. Since hindsight is 20/20 we can look back and draw our conclusions effortlessly.

If we are to sum up the data, the Dow retreated to less than 9000 in 2003 and after roaring to 14,000 in July 2007, is back to less than 9000 again. the last time it was less than 9000 was in early 1998. We are back to the levels not seen for a decade and what happened during that decade? The most amount of money that could be borrowed was borrowed and the most amount of money that could be spent was spent, all of this while the intrinsic value of the market was inflated due to the swirling fiscal excess.

We now have found out that all the money we spent should not have been spent and all the money that was borrowed definitely should not have been borrowed. Now we all have to suffer and pay the piper. So, why do all those Wall Streeters still get bonuses when no money has been made and especially when the taxpayer has granted most of those firms hundreds of billions to survive?