SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Charles Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, left, leave the U.S. Capitol after a meeting with Republican members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on February 13, 2025.
(Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
As Anger Over Wealth Inequality Deepens, Wall Street Bonuses Are 4 Times a US Worker's Pay
"Something is very broken and this is why people are so disenchanted," one commenter said.
Mar 26, 2025
Amid growing discontent over surging economic inequality in the U.S.—and the Trump administration's elevation of unelected billionaire Elon Musk to the upper reaches of the federal government—the New York state comptroller's report on rising Wall Street bonuses was met with condemnation on Wednesday.
"Something is very broken and this is why people are so disenchanted," wrote one commenter on an article about the report at The Washington Post. "There is no American dream. Just fat cats getting fatter."
Another added that "the inequity of taxation on wealth in this country is shameful."
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli lauded Wall Street's "very strong performance" in 2024 as he announced the average bonus paid to employees in the securities industry reached $244,700 last year—up 31.5% from 2023—as Wall Street's profits skyrocketed by 90%. The bonus pool reached a record $47.5 billion.
But as researcher Rob Galbraith pointed out on social media, the record-breaking take-home pay of Wall Street executives was 3.5 times the median household income for a family in Erie County, New York—leaving doubt that many workers in the state will immediately join in celebrating what DiNapoli said was "good news for New York's economy and our fiscal position" due to the bonuses' impacts on tax revenue.
"Tens of thousands of NYC families are about to lose their childcare unless we come up with another $1 billion in the state budget," said state Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-36), who is running to be mayor of New York City, in response to the announcement.
The average bonus for Wall Street employees was about four times the salary of the median full-time U.S. worker's earnings for 2024, which came to about $62,000 or $1,200 per week.
DiNapoli's estimate was released a week after voters at a town hall in a Republican district in Nebraska shouted, "Tax the rich!" at Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) when he expressed support for Musk's slashing of public spending and claimed such cuts are necessary to balance the budget.
In recent weeks, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have drawn crowds of tens of thousands of people to hear them speak on their Fighting Oligarchy tour—leading the congresswoman to proclaim, "What is happening right now is different."
"We need to be taxing the rich on the floor of the Congress," said Ocasio-Cortez in Arizona last week, drawing loud applause. "We need to be establishing guaranteed healthcare on the floor of the Congress. We need to be passing a living wage on the floor of the Congress."
However, Congress is currently controlled by Republicans working to cut federal programs that serve working people to pay for tax cuts benefiting rich individuals and corporations.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Amid growing discontent over surging economic inequality in the U.S.—and the Trump administration's elevation of unelected billionaire Elon Musk to the upper reaches of the federal government—the New York state comptroller's report on rising Wall Street bonuses was met with condemnation on Wednesday.
"Something is very broken and this is why people are so disenchanted," wrote one commenter on an article about the report at The Washington Post. "There is no American dream. Just fat cats getting fatter."
Another added that "the inequity of taxation on wealth in this country is shameful."
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli lauded Wall Street's "very strong performance" in 2024 as he announced the average bonus paid to employees in the securities industry reached $244,700 last year—up 31.5% from 2023—as Wall Street's profits skyrocketed by 90%. The bonus pool reached a record $47.5 billion.
But as researcher Rob Galbraith pointed out on social media, the record-breaking take-home pay of Wall Street executives was 3.5 times the median household income for a family in Erie County, New York—leaving doubt that many workers in the state will immediately join in celebrating what DiNapoli said was "good news for New York's economy and our fiscal position" due to the bonuses' impacts on tax revenue.
"Tens of thousands of NYC families are about to lose their childcare unless we come up with another $1 billion in the state budget," said state Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-36), who is running to be mayor of New York City, in response to the announcement.
The average bonus for Wall Street employees was about four times the salary of the median full-time U.S. worker's earnings for 2024, which came to about $62,000 or $1,200 per week.
DiNapoli's estimate was released a week after voters at a town hall in a Republican district in Nebraska shouted, "Tax the rich!" at Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) when he expressed support for Musk's slashing of public spending and claimed such cuts are necessary to balance the budget.
In recent weeks, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have drawn crowds of tens of thousands of people to hear them speak on their Fighting Oligarchy tour—leading the congresswoman to proclaim, "What is happening right now is different."
"We need to be taxing the rich on the floor of the Congress," said Ocasio-Cortez in Arizona last week, drawing loud applause. "We need to be establishing guaranteed healthcare on the floor of the Congress. We need to be passing a living wage on the floor of the Congress."
However, Congress is currently controlled by Republicans working to cut federal programs that serve working people to pay for tax cuts benefiting rich individuals and corporations.
Amid growing discontent over surging economic inequality in the U.S.—and the Trump administration's elevation of unelected billionaire Elon Musk to the upper reaches of the federal government—the New York state comptroller's report on rising Wall Street bonuses was met with condemnation on Wednesday.
"Something is very broken and this is why people are so disenchanted," wrote one commenter on an article about the report at The Washington Post. "There is no American dream. Just fat cats getting fatter."
Another added that "the inequity of taxation on wealth in this country is shameful."
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli lauded Wall Street's "very strong performance" in 2024 as he announced the average bonus paid to employees in the securities industry reached $244,700 last year—up 31.5% from 2023—as Wall Street's profits skyrocketed by 90%. The bonus pool reached a record $47.5 billion.
But as researcher Rob Galbraith pointed out on social media, the record-breaking take-home pay of Wall Street executives was 3.5 times the median household income for a family in Erie County, New York—leaving doubt that many workers in the state will immediately join in celebrating what DiNapoli said was "good news for New York's economy and our fiscal position" due to the bonuses' impacts on tax revenue.
"Tens of thousands of NYC families are about to lose their childcare unless we come up with another $1 billion in the state budget," said state Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-36), who is running to be mayor of New York City, in response to the announcement.
The average bonus for Wall Street employees was about four times the salary of the median full-time U.S. worker's earnings for 2024, which came to about $62,000 or $1,200 per week.
DiNapoli's estimate was released a week after voters at a town hall in a Republican district in Nebraska shouted, "Tax the rich!" at Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) when he expressed support for Musk's slashing of public spending and claimed such cuts are necessary to balance the budget.
In recent weeks, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have drawn crowds of tens of thousands of people to hear them speak on their Fighting Oligarchy tour—leading the congresswoman to proclaim, "What is happening right now is different."
"We need to be taxing the rich on the floor of the Congress," said Ocasio-Cortez in Arizona last week, drawing loud applause. "We need to be establishing guaranteed healthcare on the floor of the Congress. We need to be passing a living wage on the floor of the Congress."
However, Congress is currently controlled by Republicans working to cut federal programs that serve working people to pay for tax cuts benefiting rich individuals and corporations.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.