[blueash]

Nicholas Kristof has this little interesting piece of economic information in his op-ed. I think it is staggering.

The Wall Street bonus pool in 2014 was roughly twice the total annual earnings of all Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage.

You read that right: Just the annual bonuses for just the sliver of Americans who work just in finance just in New York City dwarfed the combined year-round earnings of all Americans earning the federal minimum wage.

Full article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/op...-a-choice.html

[Polar Bear]

These sorts of comparisons have long worn thin for me.

"Inequality" is a fact of life. It's existed forever and will continue to exist forever. I think we should continue efforts to get everybody involved in our economic system. And of course we should have reasonable programs to help those who have a true need and are unable to help themselves. But even if there were 0% unemployment, there will never be...nor should there be...an absolute lack of any financial "inequalities".

Statistics can always be presented that will make things appear unfair. Take them for what they are worth...usually very little.

[Villager Joyce]

How about comparing the same category (those earning minimum wage as set by the Federal government) against movie or television stars and professional athletes. Then what do you do with that information?

[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by Villager Joyce

How about comparing the same category (those earning minimum wage as set by the Federal government) against movie or television stars and professional athletes. Then what do you do with that information?

Agree.

[sunnyatlast]

Top 100 Athletes and Celebrities Lists 2014:

The World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2014: Behind The Numbers - Forbes

Beyonc� Knowles Tops The FORBES Celebrity 100 List - Forbes

[Villager Joyce]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

Top 100 Athletes and Celebrities Lists 2014:

The World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2014: Behind The Numbers - Forbes

Beyonc� Knowles Tops The FORBES Celebrity 100 List - Forbes

Thanks for providing these links.

[Buffalo Jim]

Those huge Wall Street Salaries and Bonuses are at " Investment Banking Firms " not Commercial Banks such as Chase , Citi , Bank of America .
Investment Bankers are the " Realtors " of businesses . They take companies from Private Companies to Publicly Traded Companies .
When two Piublic Companies wish to merge or when one Public Company wishes to outright purchase another each side must hire an Investment Banking Firm to opine on the structure of the proposed deal to represent the interests of the shareholders . Much more complicated and involved than you might think .
These firms only hire the best and the brightest from the best Undergrad and MBA schools in the US . The major work is done by these young employees who literally work 16 hours a day and often 7 days per week . It is an " up or out " dog eat dog work environment . Very very few last long enough to make Partner which is where the huge bonuses are handed out . The large majority of the young workforce last only 2 to 3 years max .Then they are replaced by brand new degreed eager beavers .
These are not the banks that deal with the general public . However a few of the major money-center commercial banks do have an Investment Banking Division but it is a far cry from the activities of the Commercial Banking activities and salary / compensation structure .

[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Jim

Those huge Wall Street Salaries and Bonuses are at " Investment Banking Firms " not Commercial Banks such as Chase , Citi , Bank of America .
Investment Bankers are the " Realtors " of businesses . They take companies from Private Companies to Publicly Traded Companies .
When two Piublic Companies wish to merge or when one Public Company wishes to outright purchase another each side must hire an Investment Banking Firm to opine on the structure of the proposed deal to represent the interests of the shareholders . Much more complicated and involved than you might think .
These firms only hire the best and the brightest from the best Undergrad and MBA schools in the US . The major work is done by these young employees who literally work 16 hours a day and often 7 days per week . It is an " up or out " dog eat dog work environment . Very very few last long enough to make Partner which is where the huge bonuses are handed out . The large majority of the young workforce last only 2 to 3 years max .Then they are replaced by brand new degreed eager beavers .
These are not the banks that deal with the general public . However a few of the major money-center commercial banks do have an Investment Banking Division but it is a far cry from the activities of the Commercial Banking activities and salary / compensation structure .

They can HAVE it.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Jim

Those huge Wall Street Salaries and Bonuses are at " Investment Banking Firms " not Commercial Banks such as Chase , Citi , Bank of America .
Investment Bankers are the " Realtors " of businesses . They take companies from Private Companies to Publicly Traded Companies .
When two Piublic Companies wish to merge or when one Public Company wishes to outright purchase another each side must hire an Investment Banking Firm to opine on the structure of the proposed deal to represent the interests of the shareholders . Much more complicated and involved than you might think .
These firms only hire the best and the brightest from the best Undergrad and MBA schools in the US . The major work is done by these young employees who literally work 16 hours a day and often 7 days per week . It is an " up or out " dog eat dog work environment . Very very few last long enough to make Partner which is where the huge bonuses are handed out . The large majority of the young workforce last only 2 to 3 years max .Then they are replaced by brand new degreed eager beavers .
These are not the banks that deal with the general public . However a few of the major money-center commercial banks do have an Investment Banking Division but it is a far cry from the activities of the Commercial Banking activities and salary / compensation structure .

Did you deduce the job description from some information source? If you dig down through the reports from the New York State Comptroller you will find that the persons included totaled nearly 170,000 employees of many kinds of firms. If you don't think Chase et al are not heavily into these activities you are na�ve. They are sector 523 workers and you have that industry sector to thank for the packaging of subprime loans that crashed the economy.

Industries in the Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities subsector group establishments that are primarily engaged in one of the following: (1) underwriting securities issues and/or making markets for securities and commodities; (2) acting as agents (i.e., brokers) between buyers and sellers of securities and commodities; (3) providing securities and commodity exchange services; and (4) providing other services, such as managing portfolios of assets; providing investment advice; and trust, fiduciary, and custody services.

[Buffalo Jim]

Dr. I worked in the industry for 35 years . The " Wall Street " bonuses which the popular and business press reports on each year are for the handful of major Investment Banking firms .
My comments were about the reality of life working in THAT particular industry . Your data takes a broad look at the entire investment industry . Big difference.

[manaboutown]

The subprime loans were pushed on the lenders by politicians. Obama pushed banks to give subprime loans to Chicago blacks | The Daily Caller

http://content.time.com/time/special...877322,00.html

[blueash]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

The subprime loans were pushed on the lenders by politicians. Obama pushed banks to give subprime loans to Chicago blacks | The Daily Caller

snopes.com: Obama Required Banks to Lend Money to Poor People
that lawsuit was to stop redlining and had nothing to do with subprime lending, just having banks lending to poor blacks in the identical manner as to poor whites. And Obama was hardly involved in the case. Read the snopes link.

I agree with you that politicians and their appointees had a large roll in establishing the rules that allowed the investment banks to crush the economy. And it all began with removing regulations and controls on the banks, deregulation. Banks make money, banks give money to politicians, banks get laws changed, banks make more money. Do I have that right? And who are those high power bankers today, why those people mentioned above who got bonuses so big they dwarf the total income of all minimum wage workers nationwide.

[Chi-Town]

The rule of thumb is to Snopes anything from the Daily Caller. [emoji6]

[Villager Joyce]

Blueash, So we are back to your first post so I will go back to my first post. What are we supposed to do with this knowledge? What was your reason to bring this to our attention?

[outlaw]

Originally Posted by blueash

Did you deduce the job description from some information source? If you dig down through the reports from the New York State Comptroller you will find that the persons included totaled nearly 170,000 employees of many kinds of firms. If you don't think Chase et al are not heavily into these activities you are na�ve. They are sector 523 workers and you have that industry sector to thank for the packaging of subprime loans that crashed the economy.

Industries in the Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities subsector group establishments that are primarily engaged in one of the following: (1) underwriting securities issues and/or making markets for securities and commodities; (2) acting as agents (i.e., brokers) between buyers and sellers of securities and commodities; (3) providing securities and commodity exchange services; and (4) providing other services, such as managing portfolios of assets; providing investment advice; and trust, fiduciary, and custody services.

The subprime loans that crashed the economy were the result of our know-it-all government that coerced, through regulation and quotas, all banks to make these risky, stupid loans to people who could never pay them back. And now, the government is pushing this same policy on the banks, again.