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Financiers Get Richer, Who Pays The Price? |
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Tuesday, 29 April 2008 |
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It doesn't astound us that people are angry and bitter. What astounds us is that somehow the goodness of most people keeps them from taking to the streets.
A whole bunch of very powerful and wealthy financiers create an economic disaster and who suffers? Citigroup, caught in the midst of the housing slowdown and tight credit market, reported a $5.1 billion loss on Friday and announced that it would cut 9,000 more jobs in the next 12 months. The layoffs are in addition to the 4,200 announced in January, the bank said during its conference call. The company has more than 300,000 employees worldwide. The bank’s first-quarter results reflected more than $16.9 billion in write-offs and additional loan loss reserves as Vikram S. Pandit embarked on a plan to reshape the company and clean up the mortgage mess in his first three months as chief executive. Assuming that the leaders of Citigroup, including Robert Rubin, are not going to be laid off. Actually, Mr. Pankit's compensation in 2007, according to recent numbers compiled by The New York Times, was more than $3.1 million (and he's a pauper in the CEO ranks--but that's another story). Or if you are a person willing to work hard just to make sure your family can survive--but, sorry, the policymakers and financiers have made a total mess of the economy--so there is no work for you: Throughout the country, businesses grappling with declining fortunes are cutting hours for those on their payrolls. Self-employed people are suffering a drop in demand for their services, like music lessons, catering and management consulting. Growing numbers of people are settling for part-time work out of a failure to secure a full-time position. The gradual erosion of the paycheck has become a stealth force driving the American economic downturn. Most of the attention has focused on the loss of jobs and the risk of layoffs. But the less-noticeable shrinking of hours and pay for millions of workers around the country appears to be a bigger contributor to the decline, which has already spread from housing and finance to other important areas of the economy. While official unemployment has risen only modestly, to 5.1 percent, the reduction of wages and working hours for those still employed has become a primary cause of distress, pushing many more Americans into a downward spiral, economists say. Moreover, this slippage is a critical indicator that the nation may well be on the verge of a recession, if not already in one. Is that a reason to be angry, furious and, yes, bitter? Let's stop the suffering. |
