BBC News reported that the Committee of European Banking Supervisors passed a measure to cap European bank bonuses to 30%. This committee is made up of financial regulators from EU's 27 members. Draft regulations will be drawn up within the next few days, followed by a one month discussion.

The specifics of the proposal are:

• Cash bonuses to be capped at 30%.
• A new watchdog would define what a big bonus is.

A Bloomberg National Poll's findings showed anger and rage on the part of Americans toward bankers, bonuses and bailouts.

Something went terribly wrong last year. A handful of bankers leveraged their banks to the brink of collapse. They used complex derivatives that created investments, which were then sold to investors. Many of the bets that traders placed were based on a false knowledge of the housing market. When the housing bubble burst, Wall Street was caught with its pants down. The fancy derivatives collapsed, bringing the banks to their knees. They cried to the government to help them. The government gave them billions to get them back on their feet.

Unlike in the U.S., UK politicians not afraid of their bankers. They are not afraid of banker outrage. They've taken the bull by the horns and imposed a 50% tax on bonus payouts, according to Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The tax takes effect immediately and runs to April 5. It covers 20,000 bankers in the UK. Some 5,000 UK bankers are expected earn more than £1 million in bonuses.

A Treasury official commented: "We hope it will be a disincentive for banks to pay bonuses." Politicians agree the tax is justified as banks have generated excess profits as the direct or indirect result of bank bailouts.

Wall Street is getting back to normal. How do we know that? One gauge: measuring Wall Street's health is the amount of bonuses bank employees receive.

Here are just a few numbers that reflect how Wall Street is doing:

• Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE GS) set aside $16.7 billion dollars for compensation in 2009, just a few dollars short of the record $16.9 billion set in 2007.
• Each employee at Goldman averages $527,192.00

Sam and Olivia are reading their morning papers and Sam says, "Imagine this! There's going to be a country with no bank bonuses." And Olivia says, "You must be kidding" Sam says, "No, I'm serious. It's right here in the paper." Olivia, still not convinced says, "OK, I don't believe you but who is it?" Sam says, "Look right here. Its Britain."

British Treasury chief, Alistair Darling, said that annual bonuses for bank executives will be outlawed. Darling went on to say: "We won't allow greed and recklessness to ever again endanger the whole global economy and the lives of millions of people."

Finance ministers and bankers of the G20 nations agreed on two key proposals: 1. to keep the stimulus packages in place and 2. to limit bank bonuses.

Concerning the stimulus packages, a draft copy obtained by Reuters said: "We will continue to implement decisively our necessary financial support measures and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies consistent with price stability and a recovery is firmly secured."

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France imposed tough curbs on bank bonuses. He ruled that brokers and traders defer their bonuses over three years and be paid only on performance.

Later this month, the G20 nations meet in Pittsburgh. Sarkozy wants his proposal for bank bonuses on the agenda. France wants three options debated:

• A maximum ratio of a bank's gross operating income to be earmarked for variable pay.
• A special tax on the financial sector whose revenues could be channeled into national schemes for insuring retail bank deposits.
• A straightforward limit to bonuses in terms of value.

Hat's off to the Brits. Britain is the first country to adopt rules for bank bonuses.

What are these rules? Following a five month consultative period the Financial Services Authority published its final code which is effective January 2010. The codes are very simple and straightforward. They say that bank bonuses can be guaranteed for only one year and not be several times a banker's salary.

The regulator backed away from a proposal that would have required banks to defer bonuses over several years.