Goldman Sachs: opps I did it again!

Just a quick thank you to Goldman Sachs. You have done such sterling work in restoring the confidence of the public in the banks.

In such a short time you have proved that you can repent and learn from past mistakes. You have made huge efforts to change a reckless and damaging culture so that it is now so wholely reformed that it can hard be recognised anymore when compared to the original bonus fuelled, risk driven foolishness of yesterday (almost literally yesterday).

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Bank_has_%A310bn_for_pay_and_bonuses&in_article_id=752891&in_page_id=34

Oh wait, not I must have been thinking of someone else!

What a bunch of idiots. This does nothing for Bank publicity. Don't get me wrong I'm no fool, I know that if you want the best you have to pay the best, if you want the best to work like dogs then you have to pay them even more. This is the principle that capitalism is based on. In a competitive market the people who need to be in the best jobs are in the best jobs because therein lies the money.

If the banks start paying rubbish wages then the next generation of super intelligent uber hardworking men and women will be going into another less important industry instead... and that does not benefit anyone. Especially the UK where finance is our life blood.

The system works quite well, unless you're incompetant and/or lazy in which case you just resent other people getting money when you don't have it. I don't get million pound bonuses (yet) but then I never slogged my guts out through the whole of GCSE, A-level and finally in Oxbridge so that I could get a job in a bank... in other words I have had some actual enjoyment in my life, and as a result I'm happy with a decent normal wage. Those who did sacrifice the whole of their younger lives however, do deserve a porsche to show for it.

So why do I think that this news is so bad?

Well apart from the fact that they just make the headlines and look like the scum of the earth, apart from the fact that the G20 just signed an agreement to curb the bonus culture.... the whole problem we had was being of the short sightedness of the bonus behaviour.

When one gets their bonus at the end of the year all one cares about is ensuring there is a huge pot of cash coming at the end of the year. This inevitably leads to short sighted dealing. If you want to reward your staff make it so they get their bonuses on a three year delay. That way if your bank goes under three years of bonuses go with it! Quite an incentive to make sure your bank is looking healthy in the long term.

To be honest the boys on the trading floor aren't the ones that make the difference, it is the policy managers on the board... so theirs should be on a 4 year time delay.

If all banks are forced to do this then when you move banks there will be no overlap or gap between payments if you move banks and so everyone is happy and no one has to worry about missing their yacht payments.

Right, now that the world of finance is put right I'm going to shave...