JPMorgan Chase has become the first of the big banks to release its complete financial statement for 2009, including their total pay and bonus pool for the year. There are no surprises here - assuming you are no longer surprised by Wall Street bankers paying themselves billions of dollars in bonuses.
The total payout for 2009 at JPMorgan Chase is $26,928,000,000.00. That's up 18% from 2008. Presumably because they didn't help initiate any new global financial meltdowns in 2009 (just kept the first one going).
So, there's $26.9 billion into the pockets of JPMorgan bankers. It made me wonder, what else could they do with $26.9 billion?
- They could give $9,000.00 in aid to every single man, woman, and child affected by the earthquake in Haiti. (In fact, the entire GDP of Haiti is less than half of the JPMorgan Chase pay pool - $11.53 billion.).
- They could provide an entire year's severance pay for 847,860 laid off workers
- Less than half of their bonuses could fund an in-state college education for every single student in the state of California.
- They could use the other half to fund health insurance coverage for every uninsured person in the state of New York.
But, instead, that $26.9 billion will go into the pockets of some of the richest people on the planet. How would you spend the Wall Street bankers' money? Use the tool above to grab your $1 million slice of the pie.

