Wall Street bonuses

They’re coming and the ramoras are drooling. Big bonuses mean lots of money to buy houses and some realtors are predicting a hot spring market. Maybe. But how much of those bonuses willl be in stock? To me, that’s a problem; to David Ogilvy, it is not.

There are also firms like Goldman Sachs, which said last year that its top executives will be paid in stock, which could hinder sales. But Greenwich Realtor David Ogilvy said they can borrow against that.

I’m a remora, but I’m a scum-sucking bottom feeder too and the idea of a bunch of Wall Streeters financing huge homes with loans against their employer’s stock excites me as much as a short seller viewing a flock long on the Euro – happy days will come again, soon.

Deaf, dumb, blind and stupid

Wall Street readies 7 and 8 figure bonuses. Average Goldman employee to get $595,000. They take taxpayer money to stay in business after their own recklessness exposed them to ruin, they get 100% back on their bad bets, including AIG bets, then rake in billions using taxpayer-provided free money and congratulate themselves on their genius and throw themselves a party at our expense. I m not a populist and I am a supporter of the free market and capitalism but I’m pissed as hell – imagine the reaction of those who don’t share my enthusiasm for the present system. Eighteen months ago I thought we should let these bastards crumble and see whether something better took their place. I am convinced now that I was right.

Even some industry veterans warn that such paydays could further tarnish the financial industry’s sullied reputation. John S. Reed, a founder of Citigroup, said Wall Street would not fully regain the public’s trust until banks scaled back bonuses for good — something that, to many, seems a distant prospect.

“There is nothing I’ve seen that gives me the slightest feeling that these people have learned anything from the crisis,” Mr. Reed said. “They just don’t get it. They are off in a different world.”

What really infuriates me is that these greedy, grasping morons are inviting a populist backlash that will wreck our economy and they’re just too arrogant to understand that or care.

Would that be because you have no shame?

Goldman executive defends bonuses at ethics debate.

Defending lavish bonuses expected at the U.S. investment bank, Brian Griffiths said he was not “ashamed” of his bank’s compensation package.

If you still have a job there, Wall Street wants to make nice

The Times reports that bonuses are back. If anything will bail out our 519 spec builders, it’s a load of rich idiots with money burning a hole in their pockets. If there are enough of these guys left, all will be well – I have no expectation that they’ve learned caution during their year in the wilderness. Personally, I think it’s a false dawn, but sellers won’t believe that.

I’m not on the list, alas

The Wall Street Journal’s figured out Merrill’s big bonus babies. Is your neighbor on the list? Are you? If you are, feel free to call me and let’s go shopping!

Not every Greenwich homebuyer works for an investment bank

But a lot do and those that work for banks that are TARP recipients may be facing a bonus deficit for the next few years, according to the WSJ. There was a flurry of showing activity the past two weeks as bonus checks for 2008 were handed out. If those lookers fear that they won’t see a similar check for a long time, our spring market may be still born. That will open up a lot of properties to other people, but I doubt sellers will be thrilled. Still, I think I agree with this law professor:

“I’ve been a big free-market guy, but with the free market you get what you deserve, and the foxes have been guarding the henhouse,” said Jonathan Macey, a law professor at Yale University. The way that bonuses were doled out was “corrupted” because it “morphed into an expectation” instead of a reward for performance, he said. “That’s not credible anymore.”

No, it’s not. We’re about to experience a paradigm shift; always an interesting thing to live through.

“Wall Street Bonuses to go way of Dodo” – Bloomberg

Article in Bloomberg predicts that governmental control of Wall Street firms could kill bonuses. Bad news for Greenwich real estate sellers, if true (and great news for buyers, of course – they’d no longer have to compete against people earning 10X more). Seems to me, though, if Wall Street ever recovers and starts generating huge profits again, those clever boys and girls will figure out how to share in what they’ve produced. Fine – I’d rather return to the old system than have Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi setting other peoples’ salaries. My personal choice, as though that matters, is the Swiss bank’s idea of paying bonuses in shares of what its bankers had bought. If the stuff proves profitable down the road, everyone prospers. If the stuff tanks, it’s Havemeyer Park for you, young man.

Buying surge?

Hardly, but as I reported yesterday, buyers were out over the weekend and making offers. Worst case I heard? A deal was struck, numbers and terms agreed on and the kids nixed the deal – their bedrooms were too small! I’ve seen the house and unless those kids are 6’7″, they need lessons in gratitude, not an additional inculcation of entitlement.

Reader KrazyKat wrote to point out that Wall Street did pay bonuses this year and those checks have begun landing in people’s mailboxes, which may explain the sudden revival in at least looking at houses. This story confirms that, but says many of the recipients are disappointed in what they received. They probably had huge bedrooms when they were kids.