Crisis? What Financial Crisis?

If Wall Street bonuses aren't quite ready to return to their crisis level, it looks like they may very well soon return to their pre-depth-of-despair-over-signs-that-the-financial-system-and-capitalism-itself-is-really-finished-for-good level. The Wall Street Journal reports that bonuses are likely to return to their pre-2008 level.

In a survey by Johnson Associates, there is evidence that bonuses will rise 40 percent, according to the WSJ. The survey finds that the biggest rise will be in fixed income and equities, which could support a boost of 60 percent, thanks to strong underlying business. Private equity and hedge fund bonuses in still-troubled sectors like private equity may decline 15 percent, though.

Didn't Ken Feinberg, President Obama's buzzkill in chief, order banks to reduce total compensation to top earners by 50 percent? Well, yes, but that order applies to those hapless institutions that took bail-out bucks. He did suggest that the cuts should be a model for other banks, but no one was, ah, listening.

The new compensation model on Wall Street will be much like the old. Take as much money as the law will clearly allow, and then do a quick back-of-the-envelope risk analysis to see if a bit more is in order.