The Rich Get Richer

I hate to beat the proverbial horse to death, but again today’s story in the New York Times does nothing but add more fuel to the fire of anger that I have in my body for the disgustingly unfathomable high bonuses that are being bestowed on some of the Wall Street firms’ top executives.

Goldman Sachs paid Lloyd C. Blankfein, its chairman and CEO, a bonus of $53.4 million, the highest ever for a Wall Street chief executive. Their co-presidents, each received $25.7 million, while the co-head of investment banking was awarded $15.2 million. That’s roughly $120 million paid out to 4 executives in one company.

What is happening in this company is being mirrored in others such as Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. Record profits mean record bonuses.

Back on the home front where my mom and millions of others are making do by spending their savings strictly to survive, they have been notified that they will receive a 3.3% raise in their monthly Social Security checks. My mother’s bonus for the year amounts to $456 dollars. The government must have felt a little bit charitable this year since they’re only going to increase the retirees’ Medicare cost by only $5 dollars per month. So the net gain or increase for the year for my mom and others like her is going to be $396 dollars which will be swallowed up in it’s entirety by the increases in fuel costs.

I don’t want to compare my mom’s value to the business world but $53.4 million versus $396 dollars - come on, where have we gone to in this country!

Our military personnel will reap the same increase of 3.3% for 2007. These are the people out there defending us so companies like the above mentioned can function. Many of the servicemen and women returning home if they’re lucky to do so are facing debts. While many executives are handed outlandish amounts of money the US Government offers a paltry $1000 dollar bonus to some of the troops that are involuntarily being kept in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond their tours.
While many of our returning troops face the uphill struggle in dealing with physical and emotional issues, all these fat cats back home have to worry about is how to divert the money they just made in order to avoid taxes.

I wonder if these people ever look out their windows and notice the have nots on Broad Street that are picking through the trash. They don’t have to go far to see the great chasm that exists in this country. This what John Edwards was talking in his speeches during the last presidential campaign. With each passing year this chasm seems to be getting wider and wider thanks to Capitalism gone amok.