May 20, 2011
I’m writing because my family and I were affected by the economic collapse of 2008, and we don’t want it to happen again.
Because of Wall Street, our 401K was gutted.
Because of Wall Street, my son graduated a good school into a bankrupt economy. He is teaching T-ball and waiting tables for a living -- jobs for a teenager, not a college graduate.
Because of Wall Street, my husband, a free-lance musician, has seen his concerts cut back and has lost students as their parents lose THEIR jobs and can no longer afford music lessons for their children.
And because of Wall Street, I lost my job in December, and have still not managed to find another, 6 months later. Our health insurance is about to end, and at 57 I am looking at a future that appears awfully bleak.
Wall Street greed and outrageous pay practices were a major cause of this collapse. One way to change the incentives so they don’t collapse our economy again would be to delay their bonuses for several years, at least five or seven. That way, we’ll know if the loans they made in year one remain good. In the bad days, bankers paid themselves on the volume of loans (mortgages) they generated, not on their quality.
Thank you for considering my comment,
Susan Byers Paxson Dorchester, Mass.