The salary of the chief executive of the large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
This is a group The Misanthrope feels extreme sorrow for – the executives of Wall Street firms, who according to the New York Times, complain about the time spent on compensating their highly paid employees.
Tis the time of year to help the rich get richer. Last year, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million; but only $600,000 of that was salary. Similarly, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, made $500,000 in salary, but received a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million more. The Misanthrope cannot contain the tears for these over worked executives.
Even the newly minted investment-banking analyst right out of college, can expect a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus. An associate just out of business school, might have made $85,000 in salary and a $115,000 bonus.
Pass another tissue, this year, bonuses for investment bankers are expected to rise 10 percent to 15 percent from last year, Wall Street executives and compensation experts report.
1 comment:
I was pleased to read that Bono (of U2) has realized that talking the talk can only go so far, and has instead recently been putting more money where his mouth is. His speechifying may get people worked up, but the best way to help people, he is learning, is to use his money for the good of the less-fortunate; a big check can really do a lot.
It is, however, unlikely that we'll be seeing such generosity from most of these executives. One fine exception is Bill Gates, who manages to give away quite a bit of money to various worthwhile initiatives (malaria vaccine, public libraries, the world health organization, AIDS research, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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