LETTERS

Re “Payouts lavish despite bailouts,� July 31

Financial institutions took multibillion-dollar handouts from the government, arguing with urgency that they would fail without this help. Times were ominous, indeed. Still, their talented employees, spiteful at the looming prospect of unemployment, found it difficult to perform without the scent of million-dollar bonuses caressing every cilia. The mortifying possibility that these uniquely crucial individuals would leave the company an empty shell justified these bonuses.

This leaves some questions looming large: Exactly where would they have gone to? Who would have hired them and paid these bonuses when every other bank in the world was desperate to cling to existence?

Michael E. White

Burbank

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This article reminds me of an old joke.

Question: What is the difference between a bank robber and a bank thief?

Answer: It depends on which side of the counter they are standing.

Kenneth Tuxford

Redondo Beach