Wealthy bankers cry "poor" due to decreased bonuses

[Gravekeeper]

Well, no,if they were doing that it'd be different, they're complaining to a reporter who's asking questions about it. There's a difference there...

No there isn't. They're talking to a reporter. Reporters report things. To the public. Who is *not* sympathetic to this sort of stupid whining considering the current economic conditions in the US. If a reporter asks you if you've had to change your lifestyle, you don't whine that no one understands how stressful it is to have as much money as you do or how you have to put off adding an addition to your house.

You keep your mouth shut, acknowledge the economy sucks and avoid making yourself look like an out of touch dickfist to the public at large. -.-

[Boozy]

It's perspective. I don't mind bitching about having to tighten the belt. I mind bitching when the person overextended themselves.

Perspective is indeed important. There's always someone worse off than you, and if you're an American, that includes most of the world. The only reason we don't have the world's real "average Joe" complaining about us right now is because they don't have computers and internet access.

With that said, I agree with Gravekeeper about choosing your audience when you want to complain. There's some tension between my husband and I about money. I grew up middle-class, and he grew up rich. Our current financial situation makes me the richest I've ever been. Meanwhile, he still feels poor because we don't live in a large, lavish house like the kind he grew up in. And he complains to me about it.

He's been on his own financially since graduating (after his parents paid for two degrees) and he still doesn't get it. Thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut around our less financially-secure friends.

[XCashier]

"People who don't have money don't understand the stress," a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in NYC explains to Bloomberg

Well, I would be more than happy to take some of that $tre$$ off your hands...

"I'm not Zen at all," gripes the marketing director for Euro Pacific Capital, who has had to delay plans to add bedrooms to his Brooklyn brownstone. "I can't imagine what I'm going to do... I'm crammed into 1,200 square feet. I don't have a dishwasher. We do all our dishes by hand."

You know, I would fucking adore a reality show where someone takes idiots like these, and stick them on a nice, low, I dunno, maybe 1,200 a month budget. -_- See how they like that.

I like this idea! Even better, have them work in front line customer service to see what we peons really have to put up with. A real life "Nickel And Dimed"!

[guywithashovel]

I'm currently "crammed" into 1180 square feet, and I don't have a dishwasher, either. Though I could probably cough up money for one if I really wanted one.

Can someone play a violin for me?

However, it's just me who is crammed into that 1180 square feet. If I were living here with a wife and a couple kids, I would feel crammed.

[Severen13]

Boo-Fucking-Hoo.

If you need me, I'll be in the corner playing "Cry Me a River" on the world's tiniest violin.

[sms001]

I would feel some sympathy along the lines of what those who are saying "any downward change" is disruptive, except these people had no foresight.
The big kicker to me is whenever I've taken a step up on the income ladder and made improvements to my lifestyle, I've made sure they are sustainable and didn't interfere with my savings.
Above all else, these people aren't deserving of pity not because they are lavish, and not because they are too stupid to keep their mouths shut before an unsympathetic audience, but because they had ample opportunity to prevent this crisis and didn't. They are EWs who thought the problems of the little people wouldn't touch them. THAT'S why they don't deserve it.

And BTW, did you guys notice that Mr. Marketing Director for Euro Pacific Capital, the guy who led off the article, probably doesn't even have to worry about losing his job? His brother is the CEO.

[HYHYBT]

Often times, they *did* have savings... and lost most or all of it when their investments tanked.

And yes, it does matter that they were just answering questions they were asked rather than whining to random people on their own. What are they supposed to do, lie?

[mikoyan29]

Well, no,if they were doing that it'd be different, they're complaining to a reporter who's asking questions about it. There's a difference there...

And the funny part is that they are probably the people that are responsible for their having to downgrade. I'm sure they weren't complaining when they were living high of the hog stealing people's money.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Reminds me of the way a lot of MPs whined when they were told to cut way back on expenses. One guy said that cutting back was "like living on minimum wage". O RLY? How about you and I swap wage packets for a month so that you can really see what it's like living hand to mouth?

[tropicsgoddess]

ZOMG I can't afford private school and an extra added on my New York home and my Connecticut summer home! Boo fuckin' hoo. Cry me a river......

[KnitShoni]

I think a large part of the issue people have with the complaints is the "People who don't have money don't understand the stress" line. They're complaining about something that is a daily stressor to a lot of people. They're also assuming they're the only people ever who have to downgrade their lifestyle. And, yeah. It is hard to feel sorry for someone for whom a lifestyle downgrade means possibly having to send your kids to public school when a lifestyle downgrade for you means you have to move in with family to avoid being homeless.

[Pinecone]

I think their reported austerity measures have been translated into things Jane and Joe average can identify with; they are not really clipping coupons.
Goldman Sachs per employee compensation for 2009 was $386,429. That includes all staff so the bankers would have made much much more. Even in places with a high cost of living that gets you past clipping coupons. I wouldn't dial 911 for these people if I saw them bleeding in the street.

[protege]

It is hard to feel sorry for someone for whom a lifestyle downgrade means possibly having to send your kids to public school when a lifestyle downgrade for you means you have to move in with family to avoid being homeless.

That's *exactly* it. I can't feel any sympathy for someone who whines about how they have to cut back...when their car cost more than my house! Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Nobody forced that person to (possibly) over-extend themselves. What's sad, is that many of these people are in the finance world...yet seemingly, they have no idea how it works.

[Hyena Dandy]

Reminds me of the way a lot of MPs whined when they were told to cut way back on expenses. One guy said that cutting back was "like living on minimum wage". O RLY? How about you and I swap wage packets for a month so that you can really see what it's like living hand to mouth?

Yeah, see, that's a different situation.

I'm fine if you say "This is really difficult for me."

Not if you say "No-one has it worse than I do."

[draco664]

From what I've read about these people, they've essentially learned to accept the *bonus* as part of their base remuneration, they rely on it to pay for their lifestyles.

Rather than live on their base remuneration, and have the bonus as exactly that, a reward for good performance that may not be repeated next year, they come to accept it as their due.

And that does cause problems when the bonus is way in excess of their base salary. Imagine you only earn an average, or even a high wage, but get 5, 10, maybe even 20 times that as a bonus. When said bonus is cut, your take home pay is cut enormously. That will fuck with anyone's lifestyle.

That said, the way the reporter presented those he interviewed was designed specifically to paint them in the most unflattering light possible.

eg. The guy who was complaining about having to take his kids out of private school and put them into the public system? It's not made clear if he was whining about himself or if he was feeling bad for having to disrupt his kids' schooling - tear them away from friends and social networks they've been part of for years. One perspective is eye-rolling, the other is valid, if a bit naive.

In either case, experiencing hardship is never a bad thing if you learn from it.