Originally Posted by steviedeluxe (Post 9870343)

1.898 against the Euro :thumbdown:

Sorry to add to the gloom. I don't suppose any of us would have predicted this. What are George and Dave doing?

Originally Posted by johnnyone (Post 9870361)

I think you must mean 1.1898. Assuming that I always thought the pound would be up to 1.25 by now.
Its not gloom if you are bringing money back to the UK.
As for David and Gideon, running out of ideas and excuses.

Originally Posted by anonimouse (Post 9870362)

But more importantly the FTSE is up

Originally Posted by johnnyone (Post 9870367)

So true, my pension fund needs rebuilding.

Originally Posted by anonimouse (Post 9870362)

But more importantly the FTSE is up

Originally Posted by steviedeluxe (Post 9870343)

1.1898 against the Euro :thumbdown:

Sorry to add to the gloom. I don't suppose any of us would have predicted this. What are George and Dave doing?

Originally Posted by tonysallis1 (Post 9871488)

paying a) bankers bonuses (in the case of RBS- the taxpayer is), b) paying for homes for all of the illegals

Originally Posted by steviedeluxe (Post 9870343)

1.1898 against the Euro :thumbdown:

Sorry to add to the gloom. I don't suppose any of us would have predicted this. What are George and Dave doing?

Originally Posted by Biffta (Post 9873252)

Why don't some people and the media in general stop banging on about bankers' pay & bonus's?
What about premiership footballers and their earnings and bonus's? The general public keep quiet on that and their dodgy tax dealings.
We've just had a 1 million pound Big Brother winner. And for what? Doing absolutely nothing. Generating no money or jobs for the economy. But of course that doesn't matter as long as the class war mongers continue with their belief that making the rich less wealthy makes the poor richer. It doesn't.

Originally Posted by Biffta (Post 9873252)

Why don't some people and the media in general stop banging on about bankers' pay & bonus's?

Originally Posted by Biffta (Post 9873252)

What about premiership footballers and their earnings and bonus's? The general public keep quiet on that and their dodgy tax dealings.
We've just had a 1 million pound Big Brother winner. And for what? Doing absolutely nothing.

Originally Posted by Biffta (Post 9873252)

Why don't some people and the media in general stop banging on about bankers' pay & bonus's?
What about premiership footballers and their earnings and bonus's? The general public keep quiet on that and their dodgy tax dealings.
We've just had a 1 million pound Big Brother winner. And for what? Doing absolutely nothing. Generating no money or jobs for the economy. But of course that doesn't matter as long as the class war mongers continue with their belief that making the rich less wealthy makes the poor richer. It doesn't.

Originally Posted by jimenato (Post 9873395)

I would imagine that the government has to pay a salary and bonus package similar to other banks both in the UK and around the world else they wouldn't get the best people to run them.

Originally Posted by tonysallis1 (Post 9873418)

This isn't about class, is it morally right that "Fred the Shred", should go in, make thousands redundant, collapse a bank bring a country to the brink of finacial riun and get paid shedloads for doing it?

Originally Posted by agoreira (Post 9873376)

Of course what private banks pay their people is entirely up to them, but even then they are paid bonuses even when they lose billions. If the shareholders are happy with that, seeing the share price drop like a stone, that's fine, everybody is happy. Especially those getting huge bonuses, being rewarded for failure. I was always under the impression a bonus was a reward for a company being successful. Completely different with an almost nationalised bank, there the government owns nearly all the shares, obviously they should have a big say in bonuses. The whole bonus culture has encouraged bankers in the recent past to take huge risks with other people's money, they can't lose, they get bailed out if they do.

Footballers, yes, crazy money, however if they cock up like bankers do and don't perform, they are out. Plus by thirty, most are finished. It seems crazy to me as well that they get such silly wages, but it's paid on performance generally, if people didn't want to watch the games live or on TV, there would be no wages. Big Brother? no idea, I'll have to take your word for that, but again whilst there are millions of saddos that are prepared to watch it, they can continue to pay those amounts. ¡Al pueblo, pan y circo!

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873471)

Wasn't thinking of Fred, just the present Hestor at RBS. He hasn't done such a bad job taking into account the economic climate. All RBS assets are now profitable, debts reduced by hundreds of billions. The bonus was in shares and cannot be cashed until 2014 therefore giving him a continued incentive. He could have earnt more elswhere.

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873471)

Do we want to be like Cuba where a Doctor gets a few more food coupons than a dustman:blink:

Originally Posted by agoreira (Post 9873531)

The "best" have brought the country to it's knees, could lesser people do any worse.

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873553)

Hestor went to a comprehensive school and on to Oxford ]

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873568)

Hope you didn't include the word "noone" on your application;):lol:

Originally Posted by cricketman (Post 9873534)

There doesnt have to be a choice between capitalism and communism

Personally I would opt for all salaries to be on a scale of a factor of ten, with the maximum wage being ten times that of the minimum wage.

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873605)

Another view from the Guardian

Veteran City commentator David Buik, of brokers BGC Partners, said: "I think last night's announcement was a very sad day for commercial democracy. Yes the taxpayer/government owns 82% of RBS. If there had been any concern about the democratic process, then UKFI and Treasury should have filled the board with their people rather than commercial appointments under the chairmanship of Sir Philip Hampton. The fact remains that political expediency and public opinion bullied Mr Hester into waiving his justified bonus. There is no doubt that Labour and the Lib Dems would have won that vote. It may not have necessitated RBS to change its mind about Mr Hester's bonus but it would have made Hester's position untenable.

"Mr Hester's job at RBS in the last three years has not been made any easier by the incompetence of EU politicians, whose inept and moribund approach to the sovereign debt crisis has trashed the banking sector's value. This level of incompetence has taken the EU and the UK to the brink of recession. What bank in its right mind would lend money to counterparties, which may not be able to repay.

"We must hope that Stephen Hester does not resign. Frankly he has grounds to! The job is immensely stressful. Does he need the grief if the support is not there? Frankly the office of CEO has been rubbished by the unparalleled pressure heaped on Mr Hester. The £1.2m salary is cast in stone. Mr Hester needs to keep a team of the best people incentivised so that the taxpayer gets its £45bn returned PDQ! Bonuses awarded to Mr Hester are only meaningful if RBS's share price rises, resulting in the taxpayer being repaid. That strikes me as sensible."

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 9873680)

He's turned down a bonus on top of a salary of 1.2 million, his Chairman turned a bigger bonus down before it was announced, now we wait to see what the boss of Barclays does with his bonus of £6.5million. These people are paid silly money in any case, and in the current ecconomic climate it's obscene for them to accept any bonuses, after all the current problems were started by the banks getting greedy and making huge mistakes.

Originally Posted by tonysallis1 (Post 9873803)

totally agree, I asked Job Centre (lol) if I could get a £1 mill bonus for my failures in life, needless to say they declined

Originally Posted by jackytoo (Post 9873927)

If he had kept his bonus the taxman would have taken £500,000.

Originally Posted by cricketman (Post 9873944)

I'll remind you that RBS is 85% owned by the tax payer, so not giving him any bonus saves £850k

Originally Posted by EllisG (Post 9875187)

IMO failing businesses should have been left to fail, that is after all the game of capitalism.

Originally Posted by steviedeluxe (Post 9870343)

1.1898 against the Euro :thumbdown:

Sorry to add to the gloom. I don't suppose any of us would have predicted this. What are George and Dave doing?

Originally Posted by dorishaslop (Post 9875317)

This may sound incredibly dumb but I have no idea about exchange rates... I am coming over next week on a house sit, my friend suggested that I bring sterling over and she will swap like for like with her euros... am I going to come out worse off or should I change up before I come??