Wall Street tightens its belt. Bwah! Suckers.

What Red Ink? Wall St. Paid Fat Bonuses

Since the crack managers on Wall Street have done a heckuva job, various firms have paid out 18.4 billion in corporate bonuses, according to the NYT. And since most of those have pulled from TARP funds, that means it's likely that taxpayers have paid for--in some way or another--lavish multi-million dollar bonuses. Of course, since there has been no clear accounting of TARP pay-outs' use, it's difficult to arrive at that conclusion authoritatively.

Certainly I am sympathetic to this inequitable treatment:
"On Wall Street, where money is the ultimate measure, some employees apparently feel slighted by their diminished bonuses. A poll of 900 financial industry employees released on Wednesday by eFinancialCareers.com, a job search Web site, found that while nearly eight out of 10 got bonuses, 46 percent thought they deserved more."

Where's Ivan Boesky when you need him? I guess the best we've got is Bernie Madoff