> Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is: Bank of America is not evil. They just hire the dumbest, cheapest people they can possibly find, and the result is ... predictable.

The result is ... getting payed $37 billion a year in bonuses. That's pretty damn smart if you ask me.

That's simply how people are paid in the finance industry. Let's say you make $300,000 a year. A bank will pay you $200,000 a year, and in a good year, give you a $200,000 bonus. But in a bad year, they'll "only" give you $75,000. So that $37 billion could easily be "everyone made less than their target salary" rather than "the executives gave themselves $37 billion".

Personally, I think the system is stupid: you have to pay me for my labor even if its misused and you make no money off it. But other people see the $$$ in good times, and the system continues. I now negotiate assuming my bonus will be 0, which is pretty much what I saw when I worked in finance anyway. (Bonuses were allocated based on a "has threatened to quit" basis; since I was always happy, I was never a problem that needed to be solved with money. When I did threaten to quit, they could no longer afford to match the counter offers. Or rather, chose not to.)