America Has Some Thoughts About Your Bonuses
When you walk out of the office and down the street today, are you planning on asking some strangers their opinion on whether or not you should get paid this year? No? Well give it a shot- the answers may surprise you, if you were under the impression the general population thinks you deserve that money. Apparently they don't but they do have some ideas about how you should be compensated moving forward. Here's what 70 percent of Americans have come up with-- you get nothing.
More than 70 percent of Americans say big bonuses should be banned this year at Wall Street firms that took taxpayer bailouts, a Bloomberg National Poll shows. An additional one in six favors slapping a 50 percent tax on bonuses exceeding $400,000. Just 7 percent of U.S. adults say bonuses are an appropriate incentive reflecting Wall Street’s return to financial health. A large majority also want to tax Wall Street profits to reduce the federal budget deficit. A levy on financial services firms is the top choice among more than a dozen deficit-cutting options presented to respondents.
“The American people bailed them out and immediately they went and paid their employees very large bonuses,” says poll respondent Michael Robertson, 43, of Wayne, Michigan. “I don’t believe they should have a bonus at all for a while.” Robertson lost his job in retail management in the auto parts industry three years ago when his company cut workers and is now in school studying computer electronics. “Of course I’m bitter about this Wall Street thing,” he says.
Banning Big Wall Street Bonuses Favored By 70% Of Americans [Bloomberg]
