If bankers want to quit, let them!
By Charlie Mullins, published 97 days ago.
The National Audit Office has revealed the shocking truth – the bailout of banks cost the taxpayer £850bn. And yet the bankers are still complaining about not getting bonuses!
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In my book any failure – let alone a £850bn failure – does not deserve a bonus, let alone for the individuals to keep their cushy jobs.
I have no objections to paying bonuses to reward success but not to people who were completely reckless with our money. They are not entrepreneurs and all they deserve is to be shown the door!
The bankers seemingly have learnt nothing from this whole mess and it is time they took responsibility for their actions. It’s just greed, greed and more greed. WE bailed them out and, if anyone deserves a bonus, it is the hard working taxpayer who is keeping this country on its feet.
The bankers at RBS even threatened to resign if they were forced to stop paying bonuses of £1.5bn to their staff. What an insult to the thousands of people now out of work, through no fault of their own.
If they want to quit then let them quit! After all, it's a great way to cut the wages bill down.
Over a million young people are out of work, employment across the board remains high and expectations for a speedy recover are few and far between. Yet they threaten to quit – (like it would be a threat!) – and moan about bonuses, when they should feel lucky to have a wage packet at all.
And it's no surprise that the bankers are at the top of the public sector Rich List that’s just been drawn up by the TaxPayers' Alliance.
The public sector is cutting staff but is seems their chief executives are getting huge salaries and benefit packages. We don't have enough nurses or policemen – and train drivers are always going on strike – but the government allows the heads of the public sector to award themselves massive salaries.
If these executives were producing results for the country, then maybe they would deserve their huge salaries and benefit packages, but they're overpaid while their employees are underpaid or overworked. Where is the fairness in that?Charlie Mullins launched Pimlico Plumbers in 1979 with just a bag of tools and a very old van bought at auction. It now has over 133 professional plumbers and a support team of around 35 staff, with a turnover of more than £15m.
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6 comments.
mike 96 days ago.
As in every walk of life, such as MPs expenses, it is easy to be generous and dishonest with other peoples money. The bonuses should be paid in proportion to what they risk. If they want to a make million in bonuses, they should be prepared to lose the same like any entrepreneur. The question is: what % of your BASIC salary are you prepared to risk? If the answer is zero, the bonus should be, too – and negative should be possible, as it is for the taxpayer.
Neville 95 days ago.
Hear, hear! Bankers getting bonuses is insulting to entrepreneurs who put their livelihood on the line for something they believe in. If they succeed, the entire economy is better off. If they fail, they lose everything. There is no grey area; no reward for failure.
Johnny 95 days ago.
Bankers get bonuses just for turning up for work. Make them earn them for a change.
Ian 90 days ago.
While I have no sympathy for the bankers, the fact is that banking is one of the few key industries left in the UK. If banking goes then it ALL goes!!
People seem to forget Gordon Brown had this country in severe debt for years while he was chancellor, well before he became Prime Minister.
Graham Green 66 days ago.
I'd never employ someone who accepted a high salary then refused to work hard unless they got an additional bonus. Yes, let these 'yesterday's men' resign. The time is right for a new generation of economists and bankers, coming up right now from the universities which the UK has invested in. They couldn't do a worse job than the 'old school' of bankers!
Louise Deeley 66 days ago.
I agree 100%. I run a small business developing people in competitive Sport at the highest levels and we are taking responsibility for what we achieve and teaching our coaches and athletes to do the same. Just as in sport we know that you get rewarded for a great performance, this should be the same in business - medals for losers - I don't think so!