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Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
@chuckv: your thought is rational but that decision was made at the height of market irrationality. when citi's book value is greater than its market value, that is a sure sign the market is not going to make the "right" decision.
all the govt actions result with an economic behavioral stimulus. it helped stop the run on the banks. also, they tried to let Lehman fail and we experienced the ripple effect there. even bernanke said he would have not let that happen. while i commend your rational thoughts here, unfortunately you would have been in a small crowd of its comprehension when that decision was made.
Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
@ARP: so riddle me this... whose fault is it... the company that offers the loans or the consumer who is borrowing more than their means? I enjoy a nice steak dinner at a pricey steakhouse, but I don't need it. the restaurant doesn't run a credit check when i walk in the door to see if I can afford it. why is the responsibility solely on the company? what responsibility does the consumer have?
Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
what does everyone assume the outcome would have been had the bailout money not been provided for?
how many of you are looking for jobs currently? i know people who are and it sucks. people with MBA's, CFA's, etc... there are no jobs. now let's hypothesize that you let Citi fail (like the govt did with Lehman). you now have 300k plus workers looking for jobs. they start defaulting on their debts (homes, cars, medical). those industries start plummeting as the market is flooded with used cars and empty homes that no one can afford. their collateral is now worthless, so those companies start to fail and their employees hit the streets looking for work... snowball gets bigger and bigger.
this was the alternative. and we wouldn't be talking about "citibank" raising the salaries today.
Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
@razremytuxbuddy: please understand that citiBANK is a subsidiary of citiGROUP. it is just one of their businesses. Now I assume your experience with citibank involved a commercial bank account or a line of credit (aka credit card). fine, do business with someone else if you do not like their service. as far as citigroup, they needed the bailout money due to other businesses they run which suffered from the sub-prime debacle (mostly CDO).
the one complaint I have about the Consumerist is by calling everything relating to citigroup (aka Citi) as citibank. this is misleading at best. perhaps the following two links can help educate the OP:
citibank: [en.wikipedia.org]
citigroup: [en.wikipedia.org]
finally, your premise about citibank being predatory is somewhat irrational and most likely only stems from a personal experience or reading about other's personal experiences. if you have a substantive argument proving your assumptions, I would take more credence of your perspective.
Citibank To Raise Salaries By 50% In Reaction To Bonus Limits
how do you expect Citi to recruit/retain the talent that can make them profitable again? you have to incentivize somehow! no one works for free, especially in this environment.
now factor in that every tax payer is a pseudo owner of the company due to bailouts. do you really want Citi to fail? the government doesn't and neither do you. so you let them be competitive by allowing an increase in salary. the bonus caps were a behavioral stop-guard to keep the market from running on the bank. we should keep politics separate from capitalism.
we should be more focused on regulation so that we have the transparancy to see these troubled trends brewing (read as MBS and CDO) before waiting until the system break from the weight of those trends.
finally, don't let the faults of a few punish the many who were just following orders. remember that concept of moving up the corporate ladder? there are some good people who got burned by their boss (or their boss's boss, etc). they have the talent and now the foresight to be profitable and to do it the right way. it would be irresponsible to assume everyone in that large organization bares responsibility for the necessity of TARP.
10 Things Financial Planners Won't Tell You
@Powerlurker: mutual fund managers rarely beat the "market"? how do you define the market of your investments? while passively managed index funds are lower cost, they are still actively managed... just relatively less than the traditional mutual fund manager. Most indices (S&P, Russells, etc) are re-balanced once or twice a year. the more active funds cost more b/c they are trading more often. the benefits are obviously an ability to adjust to a changing environment.
both active and passive funds have a place. the more important aspect is a well devised asset allocation plan based on your investment policy. how much do you need on monthly/annual basis? how do you translate that into a target rate of return? what mix of assets will help you achieve said target rate of return? it's a bit more complicated than going with the cheapest product available.
you get what you pay for.
10 Things Financial Planners Won't Tell You
just because everyone can grow their own food and cook their own meals doesn't mean they want to. Financial Planners/Advisors/ect exist because people find value in their profession. there are always going to be some bad apples in a batch, but that is inherent of every profession. this article only has weight because of the recent financial turmoil.
10 Things Financial Planners Won't Tell You
@redclear55: perhaps not those EXACT 10 items... but the general idea.
10 Things Financial Planners Won't Tell You
i fail to see the value in this post. those ten items can be used in any other industry/profession.
Comments from redclear55
The Federal Government Has Had Enough With Cell Phone Exclusivity
couldn't we argue that the current system is stifling the advancement of technology? I read the following excerpt and was astounded by how far behind we are technologically:
"The first data services appeared on mobile phones starting with person-to-person SMS text messaging in Finland in 1993. First trial payments using a mobile phone to pay for a Coca Cola vending machine were set in Finland in 1998. The first commercial payments were mobile parking trialled in Sweden but first commercially launched in Norway in 1999. The first commercial payment system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999 simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart. The first content sold to mobile phones was the ringing tone, first launched in 1998 in Finland. The first full internet service on mobile phones was i-Mode introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999.
In 2001 the first commercial launch of 3G (Third Generation) was again in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard."
sourced from: [en.wikipedia.org]
the common theory is that competition provides an environment to evolve more quickly. reverse engineering that thought against our telecom industry would assume that we're lacking competition.
just a thought.