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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Main Street to Wall Street: Drop Dead




Portfolio.com, Dec 13 2010 2:05pm EDT

After learning that the bailed-out banks that benefited from public funds are now poised to hand out fat bonuses, Americans are furious. In a Bloomberg poll, 70 percent of respondents said that the bonuses should not be issued—and in Washington, no one is more upset than rank-and-file Republicans.

A national poll by Bloomberg shows that 70 percent of Americans say bonuses should be banned this year at banks that were bailed out by the federal government. One in six respondents say bonuses in excess of $400,000 should be taxed at a rate of 50 percent.

Banks had their best two-year period ever in 2009 and 2010, according to a Bloomberg analysis of revenue growth. It found that 2010 is likely to be the second-best year in banking history, thanks to strong equity underwriting and stock and bond trading. The gains reflect the fact that the banks are flush with cheap money from their $135 billion in bailouts, as well as the Fed's policy of stimulating the economy with cheap interest rates.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has crept back up to 9.8 percent and the pace of economic recovery is still too slow to alleviate that rate any time soon.

On Capitol Hill, the divergent paths of Wall Street and Main Street seems to bother Republicans more than anyone else. Generally disposed toward keeping regulation to a minimum, the massive government intervention in financial markets has rankled the GOP. According to Bloomberg, 76 percent of Republicans oppose this year's banker bonuses at bailed out institutions. That is higher than the rate of opposition among Democrats or independents, Bloomberg says.

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