Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Blankenfield says "curb bank pay"..

..or something like that. Goldoman Sachs chief, Lloyd Blankenfield [sic] says that it is long overdue to curb bank, more clearly, investment banker incentives and bonuses.

He says that these investment bankers serve no social purpose and thus, they don't need all of that money heaped up on them.

You want to know something? He is sort of right!

Take for example the catalyst that started the banking crisis and hence the economic crisis? Derivatives that were collateralized into debt obligations (CDO's) which had no true value, outside of the mortgages they stood for.

These products were hollow to a large extent. But, their values were raised, based on the risk they represented and the returns they could make if in the event the CDO lost value (chiefly mortgage backed securities).

To me, it is one big shell game. Could even be a Ponzi scheme. It held no true benefit for the shareholder, especially if bonuses were paid to investment bankers to the tune of millions out of the "returns" they created.

So....to the end with them, until investment bankers learn how to appreciate what they have.

The other side of it is is that the government and the average person, does not understand to the extent to which these products are and how they are supposed to work for profit.

Seeing this, not only should investment banker incentives be cut as a way to curb the enthusiasm towards getting into such a "seemingly" corrupt career, but also the products which they create should be supervised with the same enthusiasm and a cap on such activities be placed into the regulatory system, post haste!

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