undyingking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
undyingking) wrote2009-01-27 12:47 pm
undyingking) wrote2009-01-27 12:47 pm
Entry tags:
Bonus ball
There's been a lot of talk in the press lately about whether we should have got our bonuses, given the financial difficulty the bank's been in, and the part-nationalization. I think most of it is people not really knowing what they're talking about, to be frank.
I'm awarded that bonus based on my own performance, and actually I performed pretty well, thank you. I made the bank money consistently. It's not my fault if overall the business lost money, is it? Why should I have to suffer just because a bunch of extreme factors elsewhere in the world poisoned our assets? I earned every penny of that bonus, and no-one can say different.
In any case, to even call it a bonus is misleading. In reality it's an agreed part of my overall remuneration package, and of course it's a lot more significant than my basic is. How could anyone survive in London on their basic? It's just not do-able: you couldn't get anyone to work in the City at all if they weren't guaranteed a decent bonus. And the UK needs the City to be strong and to continue to employ the best and the brightest: that's obvious.
The other thing of course is that to recover the overall economy, we need people to be spending. If people like me had their package cut so severely, we wouldn't be able to spend the money that's going to keep other people in jobs. Service and consumer goods industries depend on there being some people around who can buy things from them. My bonus means I can buy more, therefore it's good for the economy. Simple!
I'm awarded that bonus based on my own performance, and actually I performed pretty well, thank you. I made the bank money consistently. It's not my fault if overall the business lost money, is it? Why should I have to suffer just because a bunch of extreme factors elsewhere in the world poisoned our assets? I earned every penny of that bonus, and no-one can say different.
In any case, to even call it a bonus is misleading. In reality it's an agreed part of my overall remuneration package, and of course it's a lot more significant than my basic is. How could anyone survive in London on their basic? It's just not do-able: you couldn't get anyone to work in the City at all if they weren't guaranteed a decent bonus. And the UK needs the City to be strong and to continue to employ the best and the brightest: that's obvious.
The other thing of course is that to recover the overall economy, we need people to be spending. If people like me had their package cut so severely, we wouldn't be able to spend the money that's going to keep other people in jobs. Service and consumer goods industries depend on there being some people around who can buy things from them. My bonus means I can buy more, therefore it's good for the economy. Simple!
no subject
I must admit, I look forward with misty eyed (and probably forlorn) hope, to the day when the bastards in the banking industry who really were responsible for this mess get strung up for it.
The placard on Wall Street a few weeks ago (according to HIGNFY at least) saying "Jump You Fuckers!" did carry a certain resonance for me.
I should emphasise by the way, that as yet (and there is plenty of time for circumstances to change) I have personally experienced a net improvement in my financial situation as a result of the current turmoil. My mum on the other hand has seen over £25 grand disappear off the value of her retirement savings, and my brother, who employs two Chinese programmers, has been stung to the tune of a 35% increase on his wage bill as a result of Sterling's recent plummet on the money markets.
My desire for retribution is therefore largely vicarious, and in the interests of Natural Justice.