Executive pay squeeze, you must be kidding!

The graphic below sweeps away all hopes of reductions in executive compensation amonf Wall Street firms. A review of financial staements reveals that six of the biggest banks set aside over $36 billion in the first quarter to pay their employees. And all of them have recieved tax payer bailout money.



Update 1
Andrew Leonard and Paul Krugman respond to the excesses of Wall Street in compensation payouts.

Update 2
It now emerges that the top executives in Lehman and Bear Stearns collected massive amounts in bonuses, over and above their stock options, even a year before the two disappeared.



Update 3 (7/3/2010)
The Economist has this nice graphic that captures how executive compensation bonuses for Wall Street firms rebounded nicely in 2009.



Those still in a job pocketed an average bonus of $123,850 in 2009, and a total of $20.3 billion was paid out to bankers and other securities-industry workers, 17% more than in 2008. Profits were on course to bounce back to $55 billion, after combined losses for Wall Street's finance houses of $43 billion in 2008.