SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR GRUEL

Your betters are getting a reward they deserve -- and you don't:

...Bonus season on Wall Street is quickly approaching....

Investment bankers are expected to receive increases of 10 percent to 20 percent in their year-end bonuses from a year ago. For a midlevel managing director in investment banking, that could mean total compensation of roughly $1.2 million to $1.8 million for the year....

Year-end bonuses for prime brokers, who have been buoyed by the boom in hedge funds, are expected to rise 20 percent, according to the survey....

The big winners could be traders involved in commodities and energy, in particular, proprietary traders who deal in those two high-octane growth areas. They could receive pay increases of 40 percent to 50 percent, with some walking away with $15 million to $20 million each....

The third quarter, traditionally Wall Street's weakest, was among the best quarters ever at many firms. Merrill Lynch reported a record $1.4 billion in net earnings, up 49 percent from a year ago, while Lehman Brothers earned $879 million, up 74 percent from a year ago....

Hmmm -- what was I telling you yesterday?

...Average pay rose 8 cents last month to $16.27 an hour, according to a government report Friday. That's not fast enough to counter inflation.

... Wages for the most recent quarter were 2.3 percent lower, after inflation, than workers received a year before....

Remember: Not helping ordinary Americans helps ordinary Americans. So expect a continuation of not-helping-ordinary Americans economic policies in the future -- it's in ordinary Americans' best interests.