I’m sure somebody will eventually be able to convince me that this is a bad idea, but my initial reaction to UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling’s temporary 50% bank bonus tax is why the heck not?

–Justin Fox, Time Magazine

And while we are on the subject of bankers, here is my reaction to the latest Goldman approach of paying senior executives in restricted stock: Don’t think that such an approach will change in any way the view of most people regarding your greed.

There are several reasons. One, this approach only applies to 30 individuals in all of Goldman.  Two, Goldman has often paid large portions of bonuses in the past in the form of equity so this isn’t all that new. Three, the 30 affected individuals will receive only their bonuses in stock; they all received exceedingly large cash compensation. Keep in mind that Goldman this year has set aside $16.7 billion to pay its workers, or roughly $700,000 per employee.  Four, you may recall that last year Goldman converted to a bank in order to receive large amounts of aid from the Federal Reserve, which they continue to profit from.  Five, and most importantly, the only reason that Goldman stock is worth anything at all is that the Federal government bailed out both Goldman and, at least as importantly, AIG which was Goldman’s counterparty in a huge amount of toxic derivatives.