Times are tough in the Financial District. It looks like it will be one of the worst years ever for investment bank bonuses as a result of the economy and the mortgage lending credit crisis. Thousands of bankers are losing their jobs and seeing six-figure bonuses disappear.

Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

C'mon, admit it, you're delighted to witness the downfall of the kind of guy who drives a Mercedes Benz SLK 350, lives in a Brooklyn condo, bangs models and generally lives a lifestyle that the average wage ape can only dream of.

It's called schadenfreude. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Here's the gory details: A preliminary study of investment banks by the New York comptroller, who has a vested interested in collecting taxes from employees, estimates that Wall Street payroll and bonuses will be down $18 billion. The New York Times reported that year-end bonus losses could account for $10 billion of that. Johnson Associates, a compensation consultant, predicts that investment-banking bonuses will drop 20-25 percent, with senior managers taking even bigger hits. That's all on top of an average 4.7 percent decline in 2007. The consultant predicts a "crescendo of layoffs" by the end of the year, adding that those won't be pretty, either, as "cost cutting demands lead to smaller severance packages and less concern about employee retention."

The CEOs who were at the front of the subprime irresponsibility parade largely face an easier fate than their minions, of course: they made millions in stocks and golden parachutes. The one silver lining is that some — like former Countrywide mortgage bank CEO Angelo Mozilo, who is being informally investigated by the SEC for stock sales that netted him $145 million — could face congressional probes and roving gangs of angry proles armed with pitchforks.

The U.S. financial markets are among the best in the world, providing capital for investment and growth and innovation and maintaining accessible, fluid trading environments. But only when they work right and smart. Which they didn't. And they're paying for it.

Just not quite as much as we are.

This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2008.