Much of Mr. Bakker's time on the witness stand in Federal District Court here was spent responding to withering questioning from a prosecutor about lavish bonuses he received as his ministry lurched toward financial ruin.

After years of careful planning, lavish bonuses and sellout crowds in Riyadh's sumptuous King Fahd International Stadium, the team has finally qualified for the World Cup finals.

Nearly an identical percentage are very angry about chief executives taking lavish bonuses and perks as their companies fail and pensions lose value.

Even when Mr. Jett's trading earned him lavish bonuses, his life style did not always reflect it.

Nonprofit hospitals, for example, are often tempted to offer lavish bonuses, gifts, interest-free loans and other incentives to doctors whom they are trying to recruit or retain.

A Bonus Pipeline Dries Up Known for their generosity, drug companies paid lavish bonuses to senior executives, researchers and sales representatives in recent years as they rang up fast growth and strong profits.

Lazarus got the freighter ready for space in only four days through lavish bonuses and overtime payments.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said: "This is not the time to start paying people lavish bonuses."

As a result, while Wall Street has sharply reduced its lavish bonuses, Bankers Trust paid higher bonuses than ever for 1987.

Wall Street's lavish year-end bonuses, roughly $12 billion last year, accounted for about 7 percent of all the wages paid in the city, according to the industry association.