Tuesday, October 21, 2008

You are paying those inflated bank bonuses

In this environment where the federal governments are bailing out the big Wall St banks, did you think that the logical thing is to cut any bonuses to be paid this year. The bankers should be thankful that they even have a monthly pay check.

They are still in their job as the government decided to spend the taxpayers' money in bailing out the big banks. In theory, this is a sound decision as it creates stability in the banking world and the world financial markets are relatively stable. On the other hand, there should have been caveats to how this money is applied once injected to the these sickly institutions.

Last week, Morgan Stanley was saved by the taxpayers with help from the Mitsubishi UFJ financial group Inc when $10bn was pumped into the bank. Morgan's bonus owed to employees for this year is $10.7bn which works out at twice its pretax earnings. You can read more about this story on Bloomberg.

At the end of the day, is this bailout hurting or helping the taxpayers? Are the governments working for the good of the little people? Where are their priorities?

Monday, October 20, 2008

Small changes at home to save you money

I just read a very useful post with some tips on how to save money. This might be of some use. Read about saving money tips here.