Bonus season always brings out the worst in Wall Streeters: the year-end divvying up of the pie dependably causes scuffles among investment bankers, traders and brokers, each insisting their work was responsible for their firm’s profit.

But now there are little to no profits, and Wall Street bonuses are being called into question by everyone from Joe Six Pack to President Obama. So this year's scuffles could easily escalate into a fight to the finish, with the infighting highlighting tensions among fiefs fighting for the long-time survival of their payouts.