Published on Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 14:12 | Source : Reuters
Updated at Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 15:44
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Author Lewis equates Wall St bonuses with `theft`
Author Michael Lewis, known for exposing the culture of excess at Solomon Brothers with his book "Liar's Poker," says Wall Street bonuses at banks bailed out by Washington are "a very elegant form of theft."
"You're essentially borrowing from the government ... and taking a cut," he said.
Wall Street banks, many which received government bailouts in 2008, saw higher bonuses in 2009. Even though profits returned robustly in 2009, the bonus pools still fell short of the banner year of 2007.
For example, Goldman Sachs, the poster child for excessive pay, paid out USD 16.2 billion in 2009, ahead of the USD 10.9 billion it paid in 2008, but still well below the record USD 20 billion it set aside for compensation in 2007.
"Really what's going on is the people on the top of the firm want to make a lot of money and if they're going to make a lot of money, they have got to pay the people under them a lot of money," Lewis said.
