Why the Merrill Bonuses Are a Watershed Moment

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Isn't it Merrill Lynch that had the bull running through stores in their commercials. If I remember correctly I think their Motto was "Merrill Lynch is Bullish on America". Ha I guess that says it all right there.
We once did an in house calculation of our CEO Bonuses and figured that if each Multi-Million Dollar bonus was reduced just one million dollars and distrubuted through every employee in the company, our $1200.00 would have been $14,000 per hourly employee. Now there's a stimulus program, and I would have my boat :) now.

J Richardson of FL 4:14PM March 23, 2009

In every other business, nobody gets close to what they make the company. I've written programs that have saved my company millions. What do I get? If I'm lucky a small raise and promotion. Plus if the company doesn't make a profit, I get no bonus.
Only on Wall Street do people get this type of treatment and it's time for these 'Masters of the Universe' to be treated and live like the rest of us.

Marx of NC 9:49AM March 18, 2009

It seems to me basic business sense when loaning money in a situation that requires a government bailout with tax payer money, that there should be many stipulations put in to play . Number one ,transparency, where every dime is going to be going to go as it gets distributed .With an outside group analyzing every move. Especially with their track record from the past
WHO'S LEADING OUR COUNTRY, THAT CAN ALLOW THIS TYPE OF LENDING

J. Mock of IN 9:09AM March 18, 2009

I work in product development for a huge corporation. My products are generating far more revenue than my salary. As with many other chemical companies at the moment, though, the overall corporate performance is not stellar and I fully expect no bonus for FY2009, and think the prospect of a raise is iffy, just based on our collective bottom line.
I understand this. We all work together and there are other technologists who may not end up with the same product portfolio returns, salesmen who have customers defaulting, the support functions who produce no tangible income, etc. So we all suffer together. That's the point of a company (i.e. team).
Why is it that I, someone far down the food chain from our CEO, understands this, but the jerks at the top of the heap of ML don't?

Rick Theiner of PA 8:57AM March 18, 2009

Step back, look at Bernie M. and recognize he was part of the system, not a different game. All of this is the same picture he painted, the same game, and possibly the same ending.

A. Kage of NY 1:34AM March 16, 2009

I worked for Merrill Lynch up until 7 months ago as an assistant in a branch. When branch dynamics changed and I was let go from Merrill, I wasn't given a bonus. After over 25 years in the financial business I have been unable to find a job, have had to spend any retirement funds that I had to pay my bills, may lose my house (to a company that took large amounts of bailout money), and have watched the industry that I was once proud of take this country to the brink of bankruptcy.
Mr. Thain and Mr. O'Neil were rewarded for their lack of ability to do their jobs. This doesn't happen to any normal employee. Everyone makes mistakes, but these individuals were rewarded handsomely for their mistakes and for running a major corporation into the ground.
The banking and financial industry are suppose to have the highest regulations and knowledge of our economic structure and they have failed the American people shamefully.
Our government, including our President, need to go back and make these individuals, as well as others from the financial industry, that received large bonuses repay them back to the government. The taxpayers should not be footing the bill for the greed of these corporate executives.

Smith of MI 6:36PM March 12, 2009

Since the release of Roger Lowenstein "When Genius failed" it is unforgivable that Americans have been mislead, duped since 1991, that cheap credit, misfiring models of greed however
con-cocted by these merchant bankers,will rescue its economy. The current scenario of adding more fuel to the fire, as a stimulus may create more debt related problems as someone must pay .Banks and their directors, owing the lack of oversight by regulatory authorities, have now held the American tax-payer at ransom . Peons of Harvard, Boston or Wharton , may think otherwise, as to why the sub-prime crisis bubbled and burst.
Yes, the banks become the biggest thieves, witnessed the billions disappearing daily,with some taking in hefty bonuses. Something is definetely wrong in the kind of de-regulation of the financial services sector.Why should the wealth of a nation be gambled in an economic vortex. Make these bankers and fraudsters pay.

Nikoh thakersee 4:24PM March 12, 2009

Stanley O'Neill is a poor excuse for a human being. He destroyed millions of shareholders and a once respected company with his absurd policies of following the heard off the cliff.

andrew of CA 2:32PM March 12, 2009

I surely do hope that Merril is a watershed moment in "revisiting" bloated bonuses for the so-ca;;ed "talented" executives and their minions. As a peon and graduate of a state university, I obviously am not talented enough to run a company into bankruptcy, go passed Go, and collect $30 million. Not having gone to Harvard or Yale, I learned to be honest and pay that which I owe. So how about it, Mr. Thain, Mr.O'Niel et.al., show us some of that "good breeding;" pay back what you stole from both your workers and the American public.

Michael F. Hansen of WA 1:49PM March 12, 2009

I can't escape the idea that our economy was destined to collapse because it was artificially inflated. Yes, greed and avarice are very much to blame, but not entirely.
After 9/11, the government went to work "stimulating" the economy with virtually free money and easy mortgages. Granted, the deregulation of the banking and securities industries that preceeded the crisis provided a seedbed for the false growth through a lack of oversight. But when coupled with the artificial stimulation from the Fed, this collapse was inevitable.
When I was a kid, I loved to chew bubble gum and blow bubbles. But even then I knew that if you just keep blowing, eventually it would grow too thin, be unable to support its own weight, and would pop.
The reason the markets are not responding to the so-called stimulus package is that investors know how pointless it is to artificially prop up the economy with borrowed money that doesn't belong in the economy.
Trying to borrow your way out of trouble only gets you in more trouble.

Mark Graham of MO 12:25PM March 12, 2009