Turns out the peons at the banks are at risk of losing their performance bonuses

[pnwmom]

too. Even if they've been doing the jobs of two or three people because of the cutbacks, and even if their division has posted strong gains.

It's easy to forget while we're hating banks that plenty of ordinary hardworking people are caught up in this mess.

[terisan]

1. So true. @everyone has forgotten about the former CEO @ AIG who left with 47 million +

while some of these low level workers are being trashed for things they did not do.

[MercutioATC]

2. ...all because Congress can't write a decent piece of legislation.

How much are we paying these people to turn out a product this shoddy?

[RC]

4. Congress wa instructed that there were to be no strings to the original bailout.

The bonuses was the plan all along.

[Mike 03]

3. I thought that bonuses under $100,000 are not to be affected by any of the new

legislation.

Over and over, all day, they have been reporting that small bonuses are untouched.

[pnwmom]

5. The bonus in question was for $10,000. So I hope the employee who was worried

about this was wrong.

[Mike 03]

6. LOL, I have to tell you, I worked in investment and to get a bonus of even one thousand

would have been a fucking miracle to me. A couple hundred would have made me ecstatic.

[pnwmom]

8. She's having to move from her low cost city out of state to a higher cost city

just to keep her job. Her husband hasn't found a job in the new city yet, and may not be successful due to his age and other factors, so they were depending on that "bonus."

[salin]

7. Having spent a large proportion of my life working or nonprofits...

when the organization loses money in the best case scenario we keep our jobs but our salaries are frozen. Other scenarios include pay cuts (have lost 10K - a very significant amount at the salary) to keep the job and the organization, and worse severe job cuts.

So while I can empathize with the employess you describe due to cut backs. In any job I have had, under I have worked 2-3 positions, worked 12-15 hours a day AND had my pay cut and frozen at the lower pay rate. But the entity survived as did my job. I have never been laid off.

When this becomes the reality for nearly every other sector, why should it be different for banks?