And This Is In A Recession
Now I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about the world of finance. So I'm sure there's a sound explanation for this article on what some hedge fund managers made last year:
Read that figure again. Twenty-nine billion dollars. Think of it this way: there's about a 100 different countries in the world whose GDP was less than that. These 50 pricks, in other words, made more than the world's median national GDP.
It's sick. And yes, Nikhil, I'm sure it's what the market dictated. It's still sick.
The richest hedge fund managers keep getting richer — fast. To make it into the top 25 of Alpha’s list, the industry standard for hedge fund pay, a manager needed to earn at least $360 million last year, more than 18 times the amount in 2002. The median American family, by contrast, earned $60,500 last year.
Combined, the top 50 hedge fund managers last year earned $29 billion.
Read that figure again. Twenty-nine billion dollars. Think of it this way: there's about a 100 different countries in the world whose GDP was less than that. These 50 pricks, in other words, made more than the world's median national GDP.
It's sick. And yes, Nikhil, I'm sure it's what the market dictated. It's still sick.
Labels:
U.S. politics and society
2 comments:
It is pretty sick but its arguably fairer than the pay of other financial executives. Hedge fund managers (and traders for that matter) earn far lower salaries than their counterparts in other financial fields and their compensation is almost exclusively determined by the profits they are able to earn. So while Citibank executes would mint money even when their company suffered some of its biggest losses, that wouldn't be the case with hedge funds.
It's still obscene.
No that is wrong. Citibank "executes" will not earn any money if the bank does bad. The executives do not get much of a salary (well when compared to $29 billion) but rather most of their earnings are from bonuses. Those are in the millions, or at the most $100-300 million. Plus, bonuses are based on how the whole company does.
And also there payday is not exclusively tied to their performance. On average hedge funds charge 2.5 percent management fees (2.5 percent of lets 10 billion) and the 20-40 percent share in any profits they make, depending on the manager of the fund and how good he is.
And I agree. It is absurd that anyone should make that much money.
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