Wall Street bonuses jump while Main Street pays and stockholders lose

Headlines all over the media scream about the billions of dollars to be paid in Wall Street bonuses, as well as the push by government officials for AIG (AIG) to scale back its planned bonuses. We have heard the cry for compensation reform many times since the financial market crashed, but nothing seems to be done about it.

Can administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg truly be effective in getting Wall Street pay in line, or is it really the responsibility of the shareholders? In actuality, the pay czar probably won't be able to do anything. But we do know that the people helping to pay for these bonuses are Main Street customers who are charged higher and higher fees and higher and higher interest rates. These are the same taxpayers who helped bail out Wall Street. Would these banks still be in business without the government's bailout money? Some probably wouldn't.