Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays

[babylonsister]

Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays


By JENNY ANDERSON
Published: April 16, 2008


Hedge fund managers, those masters of a secretive, sometimes volatile financial universe, are making money on a scale that once seemed unimaginable, even in Wall Street’s rarefied realms.

One manager, John Paulson, made $3.7 billion last year. He reaped that bounty, probably the richest in Wall Street history, by betting against certain mortgages and complex financial products that held them.

Mr. Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Company, was not the only big winner. The hedge fund managers James H. Simons and George Soros each earned almost $3 billion last year, according to an annual ranking of top hedge fund earners by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, which comes out Wednesday.

Hedge fund managers have redefined notions of wealth in recent years. And the richest among them are redefining those notions once again.

Their unprecedented and growing affluence underscores the gaping inequality between the millions of Americans facing stagnating wages and rising home foreclosures and an agile financial elite that seems to thrive in good times and bad. Such profits may also prompt more calls for regulation of the industry.

Even on Wall Street, where money is the ultimate measure of success, the size of the winnings makes some uneasy. “There is nothing wrong with it — it’s not illegal,” said William H. Gross, the chief investment officer of the bond fund Pimco. “But it’s ugly.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/16wall.html?_r=1&ex=1366084800&en=e5491e4b989fae00&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

[mac2]

1. It's ugly and illegal

Where is that Corporate Responsibility Act(ion) Congress?

[AP]

2. And a lot of them live in connecticut...

Report: Connecticut poor pay more of income on taxes, than rich

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3163944