Bank Bonus Bashing

Can't find a job? Frustrated with trying to modify your mortgage? Can't get a loan for your small business? Take some solace from the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the new Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearings on C-SPAN2. The hearings started January 13th by grilling the chief executives of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. While it's not entertaining TV, it's fun to watch bankers squirm in $3,000 suits to justify their actions in pursuit of financial gain.

Those financial institutions and the people who run them have become a lightening rod for criticism from the White House to the out house back on the farm. As the hearings began, media attention was again focused on the huge profits racked up by the banks from investment of the taxpayer bailout funds they received and the outlandish bonuses the mega-banks are paying their top executives, as a result.

The purpose of the commission is to uncover the "salacious wrongdoings" of financial kingpins who brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse. This latest round of banker bashing will justifiably continue until big banks change their ways voluntarily or they are forced by regulation to contribute proportionate to their gains in the recovery of the economy.

Average people have good reason to be outraged that in the midst of economic uncertainty bankers are giving themselves fat bonuses. Greed apparently continues to drive the financial community without regard for the collective good of the economy. Their gross avaricious is cause enough to bite the bankers in the behind. President Obama's moved to tax the excess profits of institutions that gained the most from the taxpayer bailout should be a wake-up call for the bankers.

The real dilemma is that bankers "just don't get it," as Administration spokespeople from the President down have said repeatedly. Arianna Huffington, the grand dame of blogging, and others in the private sector have proposed another way of reaching the bankers. They have started a movement to hit the bankers in the pocketbook by taking deposits out of the mega-banks and placing them in community banks that invest where they live and support average bank customers. If you want to learn more about the movement, go to the Huffington Post or Google "Move Your Money."

Such catharsis, however, is little more than a nuisance to bankers pulling down six, seven and eight-figure bonuses even in bad years, according to the New York Times. Unfortunately, the old saying on Wall Street still applies; "money talks and bullshit walks."

Bankers will not pay attention until their hands are held to the fire by their boards of directors and stockholders. Stockholders have the power to pressure the bosses of major financial institutions to take a hard look at what drives them. Perhaps, they can provide a seat and a voice for the small business people who create wealth and jobs in this nation, as well as a place for the ethicist, who can see beyond the numbers. Clearly, the accountants, lawyers, and, even the mathematicians, who determine investment strategies, have failed to tame the lions of Wall Street. It's time for Main Street to have a say.

And, That's That...