Friday, May 31, 2013

The Most Stinging Indictment Of Wall Street Bankers We've Read In A While



“From BI:  “ ...In a recent editorial, Reuters editor Edward Hadas got more specific about the group of wealthy people he examines. His meditation is specific to the world view of bankers, whom he calls "aristocrats."

He says their rewards are excessive for the work they do and the value it adds to society (very little). Consider that while the average pay of a JP Morgan employee is $192,000, it is the top third of employees (making around $485,000 compared to the bottom two thirds', say, $45,000), that skews it in that direction.

But being overpaid isn't Hadas' most damning gripe. To him, this is a sociological issue about identity that goes beyond dollars and sense. Bankers, he says "have persuaded broader society that they are modern day aristocrats... They go along with an unthinking sense of entitlement and a mix of self-righteousness and self-centredness, with just a hint of condescending tolerance for limited criticism."

Think about it as a form of nobless oblige. Hadas is arguing that, armed with the mysteries of our complex financial system, bankers feel like the masters of something lesser mortals cannot begin to understand. For that important understanding, they believe they should be rewarded handsomely….



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