Now I see all these big shots whinin’ on my evening news
About how they’re losin’ billions and how it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue
Well pardon me if I don’t shed a tear ‘cause they’re selling make believe
And we don’t buy that here

- John Rich, “Shuttin’ Down Detroit”

I know everyone else is already up in arms about this, but bonuses? To bankers? Shouldn’t they have been fired already anyway? Bonuses are usually a formula based on meeting certain objectives for the year, and there’s no way the banks met their goals this year, thus, there should be $0 in bonuses.

I like Obama’s move to limit their pay to $500,000.

• Without the bailout money, these bankers should be out of a job entirely. (They’re getting it because they would go out of business otherwise, right?)
• They can either move on and find a new job like they would’ve had to if the bank went under, or they can be grateful that they’re still getting paid at all.

So of course, then there are the infamous comments about how $500,000 isn’t very much money. And maybe these guys will be in dire straights with so “little” money. Perhaps they own a $50 million house, and can’t afford their mortgage payments.

So I think the real takeaway here is, live below your means. If you and your spouse both earn $50,000, then you have 2 fairly comfortable incomes (depending on your location, kids, etc.).

• Don’t be like those bankers. If one spouse loses their job, or gets sick, you shouldn’t feel like you’ve been reduced to poverty. $50,000 is still a good amount to live on.
• You will run into problems if you were already pushing your combined income to the max, and now you have dropped to half of that. That’s probably what happened to the bankers with their $20,000,000 incomes.

I don’t that you need to be a miser to live like this.

• If you keep your monthly bills (mortgage, utilities, insurance, cars) to an amount that can be paid with one salary, in a pinch, then you can use the rest to pay your mortgage off faster, or splurge on vacations, clothes, eating out. The difference is, you can cut your spending on groceries and vacations, but you can’t cut your monthly mortgage bill down below the minimum payment.

So, if you are outraged like I am, keep in mind that if you are living above your means, or just at the limit, you might run into the same issue as them if you had a pay cut!