But doesn’t punishment have to be punishment for a crime? Since they are accused of no crime, how can this be considered punishment?
IANAL, so I am just asking questions.
OK, some of them have offered to give part or all of the bonuses back.
Let’s assume for a moment that they do so. Bonuses are taxed, right? If the bonus was given then returned, are they still on the hook for the tax on it? Or how would that work?
I would guess if they didn’t keep the bonus, the IRS can’t say it’s income, so they can’t be taxed on it.
Punishment? Heavens, no! These fellows have simply come to realize, to their dismay, that they have inadvertently received more compensation that was their due. Kind of thing could happen to anybody, especially someone whose math skills are weak, and not sophisticated in the ways of finance. Really, just an honest blunder, you know, “mistakes were made”.
I’m sure they are eager to get themselves in correct alignment, especially if we will put away the pliers and blowtorches…
This is exactly what I was commenting on:
Earning money isn’t an ability. It’s a result. The attitude that a person’s job is “to make money” is so wrong I’m not sure I could list everything incorrect about it. It’s the attitude of thieves & gamblers, and it’s the attitude that many people in the so-called “financial industry” have, ISTM.
Thieves don’t add value, they subtract it. Gamblers don’t make money, they lose it.
And like a junkie, they will say and do whatever they think is necessary to get another fix.
I know I left whores out of my metaphors, but that’s because a whore actually does perform a service for her customers.
It is being reported today in the local rag (San Jose Mercury News, lead story), that the so-called “retention bonuses” are in fact really compensation/salary equivalents.
I don’t know that renegotiating something that is essentially a “salary” is a good idea, but I really don’t think that the idea of basing a financial employee’s total compensation on how well they can game the market using derivatives and other esoteric gambling tools is good for the company involved.
Oh, the article goes on
Exactly what are these people being “retained” for?
If it quacks “essentially” like a duck, then it ain’t a duck unless the guy complaining has the bucks to hire a better lawyer than you can.
So…if it quacks like a duck you need to have several male deer in order to hire a vulture? Essentially?
-XT
As usual, you got it in one, XT!
As usual? As Inigo Montoya would say, I dinna thin’ that word means what you thin’ it means…
-XT
They could just take the phrase our illustrious leader used when he signed the pork laden budget bill after making a campaign promise of “no earmarks!”
It’s last year’s business.
The guy who made that promise lost. Our illustrious leader is the other one.
No.
We learn this from US v. Brown, where at issue was a law making anyone who had been a member of the Communist Party ineligible to hold a position on a union board. The Court said:
In my job it’s a hard won ability that came from working fifteen hour days for ten years in order to acquire the expertise and experience to do it well. Working with financial instruments my job is literally to make money.
I see. Are you a volunteer, or a hypocrite?
I’m neither. Which are you?
Asshole. You stole my new business idea.
This Liddy guy seems balanced and straightforward.
Liddy’sOp-Ed
I’m not happy about the giving back half, but what can be done without dismantling whole systems of law and established procedure? I feel better knowing that some of these bastards have either refused the bonuses or opted to return all of it. Perhaps there is honor among thieves.
For all here who don’t get the anger re this tiny amount of money (and given all else that is going on, this is somewhat small potatoes), I ask you to think on the response of the French people upon hearing Marie Antoinette say “let [the peasants] eat cake.”* It’s the salt in the wound; the last straw, the tipping point.
That said, the death threats etc are insane and waaay over the top. We are a strange people. And now Freddie Mac is revealing their “bonuses”. Oh, to be a financial executive, now that spring is here…
*I know she may well have never said that, but work with me here.
I missed the edit window.
Scylla--IMO, what is being Pitted is the attitude toward making money. We all know we have to make money to survive. But if that is the sole goal, disregarding the focus or the intent (mission) of the company, there’s a problem. I am not saying you are one of these, but there are many people (and many of them are financial executives) who want to use their company or bank or financial institution as a sort of cash cow and then move on to well, greener pastures. The quick profit, the annual bonus and then hopscotch over to another firm etc–it happens. It’s bad for business long term, but can be very lucrative short term.
Just a general remark.
Thank you eleanorigby. I couldn’t figure out how to say that as well as you did.
I wasn’t trying to pick on you, Scylla. Just your (perhaps unfortunate) choice of words brought some thoughts out.
I’ll assume that you (like me, like most people) are trying to perform a service for your clients, beyond “get me as much money as you can, no matter the method”… ok?
But many in your industry are thieves, and gamblers, and junkies (addicted to greed). That’s why we are where we are now.
You’re welcome. 
I thought I understood the source of your frustration and anger. I guess I was right.