BAE was recently fined 400mm dollars by the US for probably bribing people in tanzania for contracts in tanzania. now bae is a british based multi-national. the brits only fined them like 60 million. why should we fine them 400mm? seem like none of our business.
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being an investment banker, i would like your take on where you think the economy is headed. i heard yesterday that for every $1 we spend, we are borrowing .40. that sounds insane to me. would also like to hear your take on bonuses. do you think there is a disconnect between the common man and wall street? don't know your background, maybe you were brought up with plenty, maybe you were never the common man. but even so, you have to sometimes worry about your childrens' future.
i guess what i am asking is what do people in your industry say or think about these policies and where we are headed?
bonuses are a problematic issue. the wall street i joined attracted really smart, really driven people of all walks of life who wanted to make lots of money and were willing to work unbelievable hard to do so. when i was a young banker i worked 100 hour weeks. thats 2 weeks of work in 1 week. it was brutal. it was also exhillerating and whenever i got my bonus, it was never enough.
but there was also a code on conduct that i took seriously. which could be boiled down to dont lie cheat or steal because its wrong and you could go to jail.
wall street was mostly private then and it was better for everbody. we were wild and crazy but not visible. then everyone went public, everyone became a day trader and now were all fucked up.
bonuses are politically toxic today but the thing to look at is what is the per centage of compensation to profit. that is the essence of the deal between the shareholders and the employees. now in the olden days they were one and the same so it didnt matter, now it does.
2009 was a near death experience for the financial system. while imperfect, the so called bailout was necessary and not badly done. we didnt just bail out the banks, we bailed out the whole country, the banking system is the foundation.
so my long winded answer is financial institutions should lower cash bonuses, increase stock bonuses, pay attention to compensation as a % of profit and try to rebuild their balance sheets and reputations; but yes if they make lots of money they should pay big bonuses.
my first real job out of college involved litterally punching a clock and making minimum wage. an yes i do worry about my kids and the world they will inherit.
thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. i appreciate a blogger that takes the time to do so.
it may have appeared longwinded to you because you were doing the writing....but to me it was a fascinating read.
thank you again
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