Here's an article from yesterday's news, called "What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses."
"By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived.
Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.
That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller.
While the payouts paled next to the riches of recent years, Wall Street workers still took home about as much as they did in 2004, when the Dow Jones industrial average was flying above 10,000, on its way to a record high.
Some bankers took home millions last year even as their employers lost billions."
Just to put it in perspective: if you had just one billion dollars, and you lived another fifty years, you would have about $385,000 a week to live on. Not bad, huh?!
Or... $18.4 Billion is roughly 61 dollars for EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES!!! But more importantly, I wonder how much that would be divided amongst the employees of all those companies? Again, what is it exactly that makes one of these corporations different from a kingdom in the Middle Ages?
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