Wall Street’s gravy train of bonuses starts at a ‘measly’ $250,000

Industry big-wigs are crying poor while still on track to scoop up more than most working stiffs could hope to earn in our entire lives.

Bankers like Jamie Dimon — described by Roger Lowenstein in a recent New York Times magazine profile as America’s least hated banker (a backhanded compliment if ever there was one) — believe they are being unfairly targeted. They obviously aren’t listening to the rest of the world. A recent poll shows more than 7% of Americans think big bonuses should be banned at Wall Street firms that took taxpayer bailouts.

The European Union has unveiled stringent new rules to rein in bonus payouts. This side of the Atlantic, Barack Obama blasted them as fat-cat bankers.

But in the US there is no sign that banking will spontaneously change its ways and even less sign that the authorities can come up with a measure that would force banks to act, even if there was a political will to do so.

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