Citi to raise salaries

However the ground rules change, the bankers make their own changes so they win no matter what. Between Goldman Sachs being on target for record bonuses and now this, it again raises the issue of how deeply rigged the system has become in their favor. Despite their PR fluff about how tough it's been to work under the government changing positions, the reality here is they don't care. The world has been flipped upside down due to their failures yet none of it matters. They're going to make their bloated pay come hell or high water. Don't like it? Screw you. They don't care what you think and they couldn't be happier that they have such a meek presence in the White House who somehow thinks that "say on pay" without teeth means something in this day and age. The question of a non-binding vote is so hopelessly out of date.

It is certain that the Wall Street bankers who failed and were bailed are not missing a beat. Pay remains well above other industries. It's as if the global recession never happened. How does one lose in the finance industry?

After all those losses and bailouts, rank-and-file employees of Citigroup are getting some good news: their salaries are going up.

he troubled banking giant, which to many symbolizes the troubles in the nation’s financial industry, intends to raise workers’ base salaries by as much as 50 percent this year to offset smaller annual bonuses, according to people with direct knowledge of the plan.

The shift means that most Citigroup employees will make as much money as they did in 2008, although some might earn more and others less. The company also plans to award millions of new stock options to employees in an effort to retain workers and neutralize a precipitous drop in the value of their stock holdings.

Be aware that some might jump in at this point and say that 2008 was a bad year. It was still one of the richest years in the history of Wall Street. 2008 paid out about as well as 2004 which was impressive, to say the least, considering how poorly the banks all performed. If Washington tolerates these actions without a brutal response (I'm looking at you, tax code) than it's completely clear that Washington - Democrats and Republicans alike - are fully owned by Wall Street. What a disgrace to the system.