What a Country!

Great story from the business world. Last quarter, banking house Morgan Stanley lost $159 million. Despite that rather large loss, Morgan set aside $3.9 billion, or 72% of their net revenues for staff bonuses. Of course, it's the same old story. If these bonuses are not paid, they'll lose all of their talent to rival banks. I'd love to be in that job interview.

"So it says on your resume, that in your last job, you drove your employer to the brink of bankruptcy. That they only survived because of a massive government bailout. It also says that you almost destroyed the economy of the whole planet. So why are you leaving?"

"Well, I didn't feel like I was being paid enough for my work in impoverishing millions of people around the world. It's just not fair."

"Sounds good, so is half a billion enough?"

So I'm no math wiz, but if a company has net revenues of $5.4 billion, pays out $3.9 in bonuses, and loses $159 million, doesn't that mean that if that company paid out less, or nothing at all, in bonuses, that company would be profitable? Well, they are the masters of the universe and a lot smarter than me.