This video from Britain is called Banks To Pay 5 Billion in Annual Bonuses.
From daily The Guardian in Britain:
RBS bankers get £950m in bonuses despite £1.1bn loss
• Loss an improvement on £3.6bn last year and £24bn in 2008
• Bailed out bank increases part of revenue paid to bankers
• Unite ‘baffled’ by handsome rewards* Jill Treanor
* Thursday 24 February 2011 09.08 GMTBailed out Royal Bank of Scotland reported losses of £1.1bn for 2010 – but still plans to pay out bonuses of £950m to its bankers. …
Stephen Hester, who was parachuted in as chief executive in October 2008, confirmed that he intended to accept the £2.04m bonus that was announced earlier this month as part of the Project Merlin deal with the government. …
Despite this reduction in the bonus pool, the proportion of revenue the bank uses to pay its investment banking staff rose to 34% from 26% a year ago, although the bank insisted that pay had fallen by £200m in the division.
Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, said: “Taxpayers will today be baffled as to how it is possible that while we own 84% of this bank it continues to so handsomely reward its investment bankers. This is an institution in which over 21,000 front-line and support staff have been sacked, RBS still refuses to lend enough to small businesses and bonuses are free flowing.
“Because of our taxpayer funding RBS is gradually recovering from the mess caused by its greedy bankers. Yet the chancellor continues to tolerate the award of some £950m in bonuses to the culprits, instead of ensuring our taxes do not become worthless.”
The High Court lifted a superinjunction granting anonymity to former Royal Bank of Scotland head Sir Fred Goodwin after a Lib Dem peer referred to it in the House of Lords today: here.
Finance union Unite demanded today that Royal Bank of Scotland comes clean about its use of expensive contractors after a recruitment agency mistakenly emailed the details of hefty pay packets for thousands of temporary staff: here.
Lloyds bank profits: here.
Britain: Tax justice campaigners today slammed a decision by ministers to approve a £7.7 million pay package for RBS chief executive Stephen Hester: here.
The same day that the Wall Street Journal reported a sharp rise in CEO bonuses, the Federal Reserve said it would eliminate dividend payment restrictions on 19 banks bailed out by the US government: here.
Labour leader Ed Miliband threw his weight behind calls yesterday for disgraced former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Slump sees richest hit record wealth
UNITED STATES: The number of billionaires increased by 214 to a record 1,210 amid the global economic slump, according to the latest Forbes list of the planet’s richest people.
Their combined wealth is $4.5 trillion (£2.8 trillion).
The number of billionaires in Britain has grown to 32, with the Duke of Westminster Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor again named the country’s richest man, with £8bn to his name.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/102064
LikeLike
BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES
Yes, it’s the tale of two Americas.
To its no doubt cheering readership, The Wall Street Journal reported today that big CEO bonuses are back – and back big time:
CEO bonuses at 50 major corporations jumped a median of 30.5%, the biggest gain in at least three years, according to a study of the first batch of corporate CEO pay disclosures by consulting firm Hay Group for The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, amid a continued unemployment crisis, indications of financial distress and basic subsistence are also soaring:
From November to December of 2010 487,000 Americans were added to the food stamp program. Keep in mind this all occurred while the stock market continued to soar and has rallied nearly 100 percent from the lows reached in March of 2009.
Working and middle class Americans barely have enough to pay for the monthly bills so speculating in Wall Street is likely the least of their concerns. The data on food stamp usage usually trails the current calendar date by one quarter. The latest data we have is from December of 2010. However, we are adding roughly 300,000 people per month to the food stamp program called SNAP. If that is the case, as of today we now have 45,000,000 Americans participating in the food stamp program….
This is the highest percent of Americans on food assistance since the Great Depression when there was no food assistance early on aside from local charities.
It’s a tale of two Americas: one gorging on gluttony, and one barely able to survive. And the safety net for those in need is being cut with a machete knife as the richest among us get richer.
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
LikeLike
Pingback: Get French troops out of Afghanistan | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Royal Bank of Scotland’s cluster bombs money | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Secret loans to big banks | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British riots news | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Barclays, other banks, in Libor scandal | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Britain’s Cameron embraces Bahrain tyranny | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: BP destroys the environment | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Sad Christmas for British workers | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Icelandic banksters jailed | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Bankers want still more power | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Royal Bank of Scotland’s £421 million bonuses for bankers, taxpayers’ money | Dear Kitty. Some blog