An Expert Rakes It In

When I was in school, I enjoyed chemistry and particularly, I enjoyed organic chemistry; that branch of the subject that concentrated on the element carbon and all the compounds associated with life. Another man who enjoyed chemistry was Andrew Hall, an Englishman, who went on to get a degree in the subject at Oxford University. He spent a short time post-university working for BP before he went to work for Philbro - described as a low profile trading unit - which is now owned by Citigroup. Mr Hall, a commodities trader, is said to be an expert on the oil market. His expertise is so good that last year the group raked in lots of money after "astute bets on the direction of oil prices." This is pretty important stuff, I have no doubt, but I have to ask: what did it contribute to the pool of human happiness; what value did it impart to the US economy? And if Philbro made so much money, presumably someone else lost an equal amount? Anyway, Mr Hall, who owns a castle in Germany and a mansion in Connecticut and quite a lot of artworks, was paid $100 million last year and looks set to get a similar amount this year. Citigroup say that they reward their staff who make contributions to the "long-term profitability of the company." I suppose that is an argument. The commodities trading arm of Citigroup did get lucky on the roulette wheel in 2008, when overall the group lost $12 billion. In reality, this is just an extreme example of ridiculous pay to the point of total obscenity. Barrack Obama is looking to see if anything can be done about this case - and, I am sure many another ridiculous remuneration package. When will it stop?

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