One of the arguments about the obscene compensation on Wall Street is that they have to pay in order to keep their “talent” from jumping ship.

Brendan Coffey looks at this, and notes that these folks really have no where to go:

• Hedge funds: They are shutting down, and now that they aren’t making double digit returns people are not interested in 2% of assets and 20% of gains any more.
• Private Equity: It’s dependent on cheap credit, there isn’t that much any more, and it likely won’t be in the near term.
• Foreign banks: Compensation for CEOs, except for the UK’s “The Street”, which is sicker than Wall Street, their CEOs make less than a lot of junior traders get for bonuses.

If these whiners are so sick of this, and threatening to jump ship, let’s not throw them a life raft when they land in the water.