We Are Rich

I must be dreaming. I am ready for my big hand out, that I am told is coming my way. The reports are that Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are anticipating giving year end bonuses totaling over $20 billion dollars. Certainly, having taken part in the govemment bailout plan, where $125 billion dollars of taxpayer money was provided to save the system from collapse, these firms must be sending thank you notes to all of us, with checks enclosed. It is our first dividend on our investment.

But, in a move that almost causes one to recoil in horror, these firms are not giving these monies to John Q. Public (I would never say Joe the Plumber) but are handing out these enormous bonuses to keep their employees happy.

The report from MSNBC news indicates that the AVERAGE bonus to a Goldman employee is estimated to be $210,000, to a Merrill worker at $110,000 and to those toiling at Morgan of $138,000. WHAT PLANET DO THESE COMPANIES LIVE ON?

I understand that a satisfied employee is a more productive employee. I know that they dare not risk losing their key personnel to others in these tumultuous times. I hear the rhetoric and REJECT IT.

What about the disgruntled and dissatisfied customers? We have bitten our lips, held our tongues and emptied out our wallets. We are living in a new reality and these companies still believe we are in the days of excess. IT IS THE WORST PR MOVE EVER.

Barney Frank says that Congress will be powerless to stop these bonuses from being disbursed. He stated that regulation was sure to follow (I assume after January 20th) that would address these procedures and put adequate safeguards in place. WHO CARES WHAT THEY DO NEXT YEAR?

To paraphrase what was once asked of Joseph McCarthy, do you have no shame, once and for all, do you who have taken us down a path of destruction, have no shame?