...as he prepares to let the bankers have it all. Signaling he is prepared to defy public opinion, the Prime Minister indicated he will reject demands for punitive action on bankers bonuses and admitted his approach could be unpopular.
Taxpayers are “rightly angry” about bankers getting huge bonuses, Call Me Dave said.
But he insisted he will not court short-term popularity by trying to “hammer” the financial sector.
“It’s about getting the balance right. It’s not going to be easy and it won’t satisfy everybody,” CMD said.
But we’ve got to try to work for that balance rather than just think, let’s take revenge on people because they’ve made us mad as hell."
City investment banks are beginning their bonus season, informing staff about their payments for 2010, with total bonuses expected to be £7 billion.
It emerged yesterday that JP Morgan, a US bank, will pay £1.87 billion in salary and bonuses to its London staff. They will enjoy an average payout of £234,180.
Other large payments will be announced in the coming weeks, including bonuses at state-owned RBS.
CMD said he understood public anger over bonuses (believe anything, he says): “There is part of me, like probably everyone in this room, that thinks, right, let’s just go after every penny we can get out of those banks, let’s tax these bonuses to hell. That would look good for a few weeks.”
But, he said, punitive taxes on banks could be counterproductive, hurting bank lending and profits, in turn harming the UK economy.
And here we were thinking that "we were all in this together"? Yeah right. They are in it up to their snouts... we aren't even in the farmyard.
