Wall Streeters May Soon Have Real Money Woes to Complain About
Sure, everybody had fun mocking bankers for complaining about losing their bonuses last week, but the high-finance types just got some legitimately troubling job news: A new estimate from a New York City budget watchdog says bonuses on the street fell by 25 percent, and lots of layoffs are just around the corner. Some of the one percenters who made fools of themselves by telling Bloomberg's Max Abelson things like "people who don’t have money don’t understand the stress" may have a lot less stress if they're among the 4,300 workers who lose their jobs, according to predictions by New York's Independent Budget Office.
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New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli underestimated the the street's loss in bonuses over the last year, putting it at 14 percent, the New York City-funded IBO's director testified to the New York City Council's Finance Committee on Monday. Things are much worse than that, as director Ronnie Lowenstein says:
We estimate that Wall Street profits will have totaled $10.5 billion in calendar year 2011, well below the level of recent years, and that bonuses for the year will decline by 25 percent—nearly twice the rate estimated by the state Comptroller last week. We anticipate Wall Street firms will shed 4,300 jobs this year and aggregate wages, including bonuses, will decline by 7.5 percent.
