Wall Street Won't Surrender on Bonuses

You can only say.... WOW!

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Wall Street Won't Surrender on Bonuses, Veterans Say (Update1) Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street's chief executives will hunker down and pay bonuses this year in the face of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a taxpayer bailout and mounting political outcry, industry veterans say. Odds that Wall Street will forgo the payouts are ``slim to none,'' said John Gutfreund, 79, president of New York-based Gutfreund & Co. and the former chief executive officer of Salomon Brothers Inc. ``They're going to have to be a little bit sensitive because politicians, whether they like it or not, are part of their lives now.'' Year-end payments at the nine banks that received $125 billion from the U.S. Treasury are under investigation Henry Waxman and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who are demanding details on the companies' compensation plans. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co., have already set aside $20 billion to pay bonuses this year