Thursday, January 29, 2009

Slanty!

Gosh, even NPR reported that the bonuses (which are taxable income) in 2008 were half of what they were before, meaning "lost" expected revenue for both New York state and NYC and the feds — meaning, just like everywhere else, city budget is going to suffer.

Hmm, but same amounts as in "booming 2004."

Shameful to get bonuses? That $18 billion wasn't going to help any Midwesterner's retirement portfolio any … but it's gross to see someone pay themselves first and then cry about being unable to pay for things they made commitments to … and then whine for bailouts …

3 comments:

kcmeesha said...

you don't get a bonus when your company failed, you should be happy you are still employed. especially when you lost other people's money but somehow got yours.

Applecart T. said...

But, if your company is legally bound to you as an employee to give bonuses you have earned (like commission) …

No, second thought — if the company DOES fail, I would think you'd be out of luck and get nothing. The Labor Board, after all, caps what one can sue for. The problem with the sweeping statement is that we don't know the situation of all the individuals supposedly getting "bonuses."

If these are lower-end finance worker-types doing mysterious work I will never understand, I can see being a little sympathetic if they lost what they thought was coming to them for doing their part of the job well enough.

It's interesting that if you work in money business, your performance is rewarded with more money, based on profits you are bringing in … and if you work in a non-money business, like education or, I don't know, medicine, you're only rewarded by the great feeling of "oh, I saved someone's life" or "oh, they can read English now" or whatever.

Hyperblogal said...

My take is very simple ... you don't borrow money to pay bonuses.