I wonder how someone who works for any other large company would feel if they were told their annual salary for this year is going to be 40 - 60% less than last year - which was already down 20 - 30 %  from the year before especially when they have taken on more work to cover for people who have been laid off - Very few other industry employees have so much of their salary linked to the performance of their company or the economy in general. It is unfortunate that word "bonus" is used - it makes the manner in which we ( yes I work for a bank ) get paid seem like part of package is some kind of unearned gift - it is not - we get part of our salary at the end of the year in a lump sum - it is paid in that manner to maintain motivation throughout the year when we are asked to work long hours, weekend and holidays. It was hard last year - my annual salary was reduced while everything else got more expensive, this year will be much harder - I have had had top ratings in perfomance appraisals - my "bonus" like many others will be based on the economic situation - not the fact that we worked our butts off.

It is a shame that so few people understand that without the banking industry the entire economy will fail and a good part of this crisis can be laid squarely at the feet of the individuals who lied about their finaces and took out mortgages and other forms of credit they were never going to be able to pay and are currently getting bailed out themselves.