Bankers Bomus

[davidjpowell]

Ok you are Bob Diamond (CEO Barclays) and your profits / bonus level to be announced next week. It's likely to be circa £2m.

What do you do In the light of the Hester scenario, particularly bearing in mind the UKFi have no control stake I this one?

 

[redbaron]

Take the money home. I work for a private sector company and it is F.A. of any ones else's business what I earn or what I do with it.... (speaking as him)

I contribute to his profits. His bank provide me good service. End.

This is all assuming that a BOMUS is the same as a Bonus......

 

[davidjpowell]

Take the money home. I work for a private sector company and it is F.A. of any ones else's business what I earn or what I do with it.... (speaking as him)

I contribute to his profits. His bank provide me good service. End.

This is all assuming that a BOMUS is the same as a Bonus......

Blinking iPad. A two week holiday somewhere expensive would be where my money goes...

 

[MOCAŠ]

Bob Diamond being Bob Diamond, he will be impervious to any public outcry; somewhat thicker skinned than Mr Hester, I think.

When will we ever get used to the idea that the banks will always find a way to bone us...

 

[markjay]

Mr. Hester said some very wise things on Radio 4...

When asked about the inequality in society he said that '...the central questions for society is not how do we divide the pie but whether we have a pie at all... I accept and agree that if we have a pie, once we have a pie, there is a dividing of it...'

So who ate all the pies???




http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeeho...t-stephen-hester-on-bankers-and-bonuses.thtml

 

[MOCAŠ]

When asked about the inequality in society he said that '...the central questions for society is not how do we divide the pie but whether we have a pie at all...'

This is my gripe with those that believe the answer to society's ills lies in equality, or greater equality. Given the choice, they would rather we were all living in penury than to see some people substantially better off than others.

I keep hearing about the gap between rich and poor, and how it's widening, but I'm not convinced it exists at all. There is certainly a distribution of wealth and assets, with more people at the lower end of that distribution than the upper, but there is no great divide that I'm aware of.

You have too look at those with assets of maybe £100m or more before the gaps start to appear, which could best be described as a gap between the very rich and the extremely rich.

 

[trando]

Take the money home. I work for a private sector company and it is F.A. of any ones else's business what I earn or what I do with it.... (speaking as him)

I contribute to his profits. His bank provide me good service. End.

This is all assuming that a BOMUS is the same as a Bonus......

Couldn't agree more. Good luck to him. Hope he gets a nice big bonus.

 

[markjay]

This is my gripe with those that believe the answer to society's ills lies in equality, or greater equality. Given the choice, they would rather we were all living in penury than to see some people substantially better off than others.

I keep hearing about the gap between rich and poor, and how it's widening, but I'm not convinced it exists at all. There is certainly a distribution of wealth and assets, with more people at the lower end of that distribution than the upper, but there is no great divide that I'm aware of.

You have too look at those with assets of maybe £100m or more before the gaps start to appear, which could best be described as a gap between the very rich and the extremely rich.

The gap isn't really a gap, the divide is bridged by the Middle Classes...

 

[MOCAŠ]

The gap isn't really a gap, the divide is bridged by the Middle Classes...

Precisely, or rather, the middle-earners. It is a continuum rather than a gap, but the using the rhetoric of division serves the purposes of those that wish to stir up discontent.

 

[MercFanUk]

I always get confused about people who moan about the bosses of banks getting huge bonuses - their whole job is based around money, of course they are going to get huge bonuses!

Also, if people at the top of any successful business aren't at some point going to be paid a crap load of money, what on Earth would be the point in running a business - it's kind of the point really.

 

[markjay]

I must admit that I still don't fully understand the issues behind big bonuses to public company CEOs.

A public company has shareholders.

The shareholders appoint the board.

The board appoints the CEO.

So where's the problem with the system?

 

[MOCAŠ]

The shareholders appoint the board.

The board appoints the CEO.

So where's the problem with the system?

Most of the criticism I've heard relates to the composition of the remuneration committees, and alleged mutual back-scratching amongst their members. Hence the recent calls to allow rank-and-file employees a say in executive pay awards.

 

[MercFanUk]

I don't like that idea myself - employees of a company of a size that's floated just wont have any idea about the way it's run up top (in general). Giving them power's like that is like giving prisoners a say in the way a prison is funded...

 

[markjay]

Executives' pay comes out of the company's profit and ultimately from shareholders' pockets through lower dividends... why do the employees care about shareholders dividends if the shareholders themselves don't seem to mind getting a bit less?

 

[mattc]

I don't like that idea myself - employees of a company of a size that's floated just wont have any idea about the way it's run up top (in general). Giving them power's like that is like giving prisoners a say in the way a prison is funded...

funny that the system seems to work quite well in Germany with their Betriebsrat and Aufsichtsrat. It would appear that Boards need a few "normal" people on the case just to remind them how out of touch with reality they are getting

 

[redbaron]

funny that the system seems to work quite well in Germany with their Betriebsrat and Aufsichtsrat. It would appear that Boards need a few "normal" people on the case just to remind them how out of touch with reality they are getting

Who cares? it is their money.

 

[markjay]

There is case to argue that having blue collar staff on the board improves company performance. In this case it would be in the shareholders' interest to do so. But as said, ultimately it is the shareholders' money, so why does anyone else care?

As for executives' pay, if a board approves an unseasonable pay package, then the shareholders should simply sack the board, which they can do. So why are we having these issues in the first place?

Is the current situation unsatisfactory - and if so to who?

 

[MOCAŠ]

Is the current situation unsatisfactory - and if so to who?

To Mr Cable, mainly, although his credibility is somewhat dented and is unlikely to recover much. And to all those that believe that the amount earned by a company's directors should be tethered by a multiple to the average or lowest wage of its employees. Can't say I understand the logic of this...

 

[markjay]

I heard today on Radio 4 about workers' unions in Cambodia putting pressure on westerns brands (Gap, HMV, etc) to increase workers' wages.

Apparently they held a 'people's tribunal' with workers testifying about their working conditions. Puma and Adidas even agreed to send a representative.

Just to clarify, there's a minimum wages law in Cambodia, and the western brands pay that, however the Cambodian lady on the radio claimed that the legal minimal wages in Cambodia are barely enough to live on, and that the western brands in turn make huge profits on the products the low-cost Cambodian workers make, so they should pay them more.

Now I do not want to see anyone working under slavery conditions. But I can't help thinking that:

Before Gap and HMV came to Cambodia, these workers had no jobs and no income.

Gap and HMV came to Cambodia because they could find very cheap workers there.

The workers work for very little money and Gap and HMV make lots and lots of profit.

The workers get organised and insist on higher pay which they say Gap and HMV can afford because they make huge profits.

Gap and HMV don't feel like sharing their huge profits with anyone and move out of Cambodia into a new place where they can still find cheap labour.

Gap and HMV ex-workers in Cambodia once again have no jobs and no income.