"Over the years, ordinary citizens became increasingly invested in the market.
Meanwhile, investment bankers were busy creating financial instruments too convoluted for the human mind to comprehend.
Unsurprisingly, this wasn't a very good idea.
Of course, the geniuses who created this mess are effectively holding our entire economy HOSTAGE."
Fury at $2.5 billion bonus for Lehman's New York Staff
"Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share in a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5 billion, Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed.
The revelation sparked fury amongst the workers' former colleagues, Lehman's 5,000 staff based in London, who currently have no idea how long they will go on receiving even their basic salaries, let alone any bonus payments. It also prompted a renewed backlash over the compensation culture in global finance, with critics claiming that many bankers receive pay and rewards that bore no relation to the job they had done...
The row will increase pressure on the government to tackle perceptions that city pay is out of control. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain would review financial services awards following the credit crisis. "There's been a great deal of irresponsibility," the prime minister said. "There's an element of the bonus system that is unacceptable."...
A spokesman for the TUC said the U.S. payouts were unfair. "It looks like those that will suffer the most from the Lehman Brothers' collapse are those at the bottom of the corporate chain while many of those at the top will be looked after," he said."