Bangkok Post, Thailand, Insider Column.

Dec. 12--LEAN BONUS SEASON AWAITS WALL STREET: There are many people in the New York financial community who are simply thankful to be alive as they contemplate events of the last three months, not to mention the losses of friends and colleagues.

The economic jolt delivered by Sept 11 was just as painful, and more pain is on the way in the form of a steep reduction in bonuses for Wall Street's movers and shakers.

Bonus season is eagerly anticipated, not only by the investment bankers and star traders who pocket them, but also by people who sell real-estate, luxury cars and other baubles. Call bonuses New York's leading economic indicator, if you will.

This year the total payout on Wall Street is expected to fall by about 30 percent, to $10 billion, according to Carl McCall, the New York state comptroller, whose office annually estimates bonus payments.

The $4.3-billion decline is the first since 1998, and slower sales of Jaguars, summer homes on Long Island or bejewelled trinkets from Tiffany's are a certainty.Conspicuous consumption aside, the heavy hitters are fairly circumspect about discussing their bonuses. Wall Street etiquette requires that anyone making an inquiry should simply ask, "Are you happy?" The reply will indicate whether the financier in question received what he or she thought was their due.

The excesses of the sector and its testosterone-fuelled practitioners don't impress some people, and Wall Streeters are rich targets for satire, but bonus season has bigger implications.

For one thing, the payouts are taxed at the highest rate, and losing $4.3 billion this year on which to collect tax will crimp New York's ability to deliver services.