Bankers Bonuses

Typically, I've many things that I've wanted to post but have been totally tied up with work (and involuntary sleep). For now, I'll just add my frustrated, uh, two-pennith worth about the plans for banks that have been bailed out by the taxpayer to award millions in bonuses to its employees....

Bankers taking bonuses amidst the current economic devastation, particularly from bailed-out banks like RBS and Northern Rock, is outrageous. A bonus is a reward for good performance from the profits that one's contribution helped to reap, and these bankers are not in that position when they'd have utterly failed were it not for the bail out. I don't accept any of the paltry excuses offered and even if there are "contractual obligations" to give these bonuses, surely said contracts only promised bonuses in years when the banks met with great success. I cannot believe that the banks would not find a way to avoid offering such massive sums in bonuses if it would push them into bankruptcy, which might have been the case had the taxpayer not helped them so. Perhaps they could promise the bonuses like a suspended sentence, to be paid out only after the Government has been repaid in full. What exactly are they rewarding anyway?

The situation to me feels like having to make great sacrifices because you reluctantly gave a desperate relative a loan you can ill afford so that he can make his mortgage payment and keep the family off the streets...only to learn later that he used the money instead to treat himself to a luxury holiday in Monaco. It is absolutely unacceptable behaviour.