If you haven't heard about the RBS bonuses today then you've probably had your head under a rock somewhere; it's been all over the television, radio, internet and printed press and on half the chat shows as well.
It couldn't be more depressing to hear:
£1million of the tax payers money going to waste
What is the Government going to do about it?
No one deserves bonuses like this
He hasn't done that good a job anyway
etc etc etc
I'm sorry, has someone missed the fact that we live in a democracy and a free market economy? The market sets it's own prices based on supply and demand, remember that basic lesson from secondary school?
It seems to me that this guy took this job, which it seems he didn't want, with a contract agreed by both parties. That means there might well have been some bargaining about salary and bonuses and no doubt some performance measures thrown in for the achievement of the latter. He would then have settled down and done the job as prescribed in his contract and it appears that he did it as well as was expected. It is then only right and proper that he receives whatever was agreed as his bonus.
It might seem like an obscene amount of money to us; well let's be clear, it is an obscene amount of money when it's put against the number of redundancies he's overseen. But that is how the market works. This is life.
If we have a problem with it then we need to stop hounding this guy and start trying to change the system of this country, it's values and possibly it's market system. And that'll be hard and painful; good but painful.
My hope today is not that the Ministers remove the bonus; but that this bonus is gifted to charity out of choice and free will.
I like the idea of turning the Bankers Big Bonus into Gift for the Greater Good
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