The Plague banquet: Wall Street foretastes record bonuses
The heart of America's financial system, Wall Street, is reporting record profits this year, which means average bonuses for bankers might rise as high as 40% from last year - all this despite a depressed global economy.
America is still going through a desperate period of a jobless economy and watching the fact that some figures on Wall Street are still becoming fatter is not something Americans want to see.
Wall Street is benefiting from record profits after being bailed out. Profits are expected to be about $US 50 billion, which would lead to unprecedented bonuses increase by 40%. All this comes while unemployment nationally has reached a remarkable 10% and still declining – something one cannot fail to notice.
President Barack Obama did promise Americans relief and recovery and these struggles are very much visible on the streets and people are still looking for the promises that have been made to them. But it has been nearly a year and seeing those Wall Street bankers be rewarded for the current situation is something beyond understanding.
Those who are rich are still spending money on luxury goods while getting a loan for something as simple as education is still a struggle. And this gap between rich and poor is only getting deeper because savings are declining, too.
Earlier in December President Obama hosted a lunch with the CEOs of the top banks and from what has been reported, the heads of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs did not even show up, something that is not normally seen when a president of the United States invites somebody for lunch, particularly in time of an economic crisis.
Moreover, Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, was recently named by the Financial Times as Banker of the Year while Time magazine named Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Person of the Year. This means that those believed to be responsible for the crisis are being presented as the heroes right now and the rewards are pouring down on Wall Street.
