Wall Street, Economic Recovery: Executives On The Verge of Bonuses

Many companies on Wall Street were given a piece of the bailout pie in order to keep them from sinking and dragging down the economy with as they went but a great deal of backlash came when the tax payer money that was sent to Wall Street was used for bonuses of the executives who were in charge of the downward spiral. These companies said they needed to keep the “top talent” with bailout money, meaning the people who oversaw the downfall of banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, but were given payment restrictions in regards to paying out ridiculous bonuses.

However, companies like Sachs and Chase have paid their bailouts back yet are still worried about backlash from the bonuses it will be reporting at the end of the year. Banks can make the claim that they’ve learned their lesson and since they are using their own revenue now their payout to executives is their business.

Some might argue there should be strict regulations as to what Wall Street banks can do with their revenue since they were kept alive by taxpayer bailouts and now seem to be profiting from the economic recovery, but that would defeat the purpose of capitalism. Others say they should be able to pay their employees what they want as long as their bailout has been paid back, but that road is the same one that got the nation into a recession.

The Wall Street banks who have executives leaving because they are not making enough want the freedom of paying whatever they deem appropriate, while others who are taking the more conservative route may be taking a justly deserved bonus from an executive who has actually done his/her job well and helped the institution grow. If the yearly bonus reports from Wall Street are “business as usual” do you think they have learned anything from past mistakes?