City traders' massive bonuses under fire

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

City traders' massive bonuses under fire

(Friday 10 October 2008)

LEFT Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn slammed greedy City traders' "unjustifiable" multimillion-pound bonuses on Friday as the traders' stock exchange casino crashed yet again.



The FTSE share index had plunged more than 8 per cent in early trading as the director of London's Stock Exchange received a royal honour and a report confirmed that City traders would still receive billions of pounds in bonuses this year.

Mr Corbyn blasted the conferring of damehood on Stock Exchange director Clara Furse as a "kick in the teeth to all those terrified of losing their jobs, homes and pensions as a result of the financial crisis.

"Instead of receiving awards, these traders and executives must understand that their casino economy is at an end," he said.

Billions of pounds were again wiped off the paper value of Britain's leading banks on Friday and Wall Street nose-dived on opening, heading towards the largest weekly loss since the exchange was created in 1896.

The losses emerged as a new report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research stated that City gamblers would have to put up with a drop in bonuses this year.

New research revealed that wealthy traders who pocketed £8.5 billion in extra cash last year will only trouser £3.5 billion in 2008, but can at least expect another haul of £2.7 billion next year.

The Communist Party of Britain has called for mass attendance at the London Shop Stewards Network's noon Bank of England protest against the crisis on Monday.