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A few quick facts about Wall Street bonuses. The pretext for the political outrage was the New York comptroller's report this week on the aggregate data for bonuses in 2008. That "irresponsible" bonus pool of $18 billion was for every worker in the New York financial industry, from top dogs to secretaries. This bonus pool fell 44% in 2008, the largest percentage decline in 30 years. The average bonus was $112,000; bonuses typically make up most of an employee's salary on Wall Street. The comptroller estimates that this decline will cost New York State $1 billion in lost tax revenue and New York City $275 million. Both city and state may have to announce layoffs.
What is more, the "Wall Street" of popular and fevered imagination isn't coming back anytime soon, if ever. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch are gone, kaput. Enough bankers have been ruined or fired to sate class resentments for a lifetime. The remaining big two, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, are no longer formally investment banks but are now under the supervisory control of the Federal Reserve. The Wall Street business model is broken, and not at a particularly opportune moment for the economy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123336371503735447.html
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