Kelly the Dog Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Speaking of regulation, Claire McCaskill has gone off the deep end and is asking for legislation that would hold a CEO's salary to no more than the President's. I'm sure it feels good to scream about that, and it would be a wonderful gesture if these guys would forego obscene bonuses, PARTICULARLY if their company got a government handout. Much as I'd like to crush them like grapes beneath my heel, I don't think I want the government regulating salaries (and please let's not get into a fight over minimum wage...) Her idea was ONLY for employees of companies who were given huge bailout money by the government, not any CEO. That would be criminally stupid. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/30/m...o_n_162662.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 You're double counting. The spread that they make on both sides of the transaction and the profit it generates is paid as a year end bonus to the guys who earn their comp based on sales & trading. Wall Street salaries are relatively small for big NYC standards. "Making the Spread" has pretty much gone the way of the do-do for trading. Most of the trading has moved from the NYSE floor and NASDAQ workstations to the Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs) that both have gobbled up. Notice how barren the NYSE floor looks on CNBC? The ECN model is not some specialist or market maker making a "fair and orderly" market, but simply people posting bids and offers. A market order will sweep the book at the National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO). The ECN pricing structure for broker dealers to connect is for a the B/D to pay a per share fee for orders that take liquidity (market orders and limit orders that remove shares from the book) and pay a rebate for orders that provide liquidity (limit orders away from the NBBO). Of course the ECN makes money for every transaction because the fee is greater than the rebate. This removes the risk of the specialist/market maker that stands as the buyer/seller of last resort. Large institutions still use MMs and specialists for block trading, but even that has waned recently. "Dark Pool" trading allows these guys to trade anonymously with each other without involving the MMs/specialists. Lots of stuff gets done on after hours crossing sessions for what's called VWAP (volume weighted average price) trading. All of this has happened over the last 10 years. There are still a lot of traders out there that make 5-10x what A-Rod pulls down. But they (and their firms) are the ones taking the risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StupidNation Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 If you think about it if all 50 states spend their way out of this mess under the name "federal" it will all make sense and no one will have to work. Isn't it funny that the big states that have "demand" side economics are failing? And they are all failing worse than every other state. I think the solution is to increase the cause of the problem, oh wait, we are already doing that. Maybe we should follow Hawaii and pay for everyone's medical expenses, or maybe we should make laws that benefit the insurance companies against the doctors to increase lawsuits. Maybe we should bail out colleges and universities, they produce so much and add so much to the economy. The only way out is to have more white collar employees and less production with increased regulation and taxes. I feel a recovery... California lead the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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