Goldman Sacs pays 12 billion in bonuses.

Did they really make that much money for their clients, that they can do something like this?


Quick Vote at CNN.Com/am

Are the Bonuses justified?

Yes 22%
No 78%

56% saying less than 25 mpg. I guess they realized they didn't want to piss us off anymore with reminding us about how the have mores are soaking us yet again.

is institutionalized scamming. They should tie those bonuses, not to new accounts, but to how much money they made for their clients when their clients cashed out. Because the incentive for creating false bubble markets is too great, otherwise.

They're still reporting the results. It's now 20/80.

....they are screwing somebody royally! That is exactly why I make my own trades! I cashed in an 18% gain for the year, last week.
I fired Merril Lynch 4 years ago and started my own trading and have made more money than they ever made for me. 401Ks are just a means for them to rob you of your hard earned money. How they can justify paying out so much in bonuses boggles the mind. But, as long as people keep putting their dollars in those mutual funds, they will continue to rape and pillage the American people!

We're never going to see the big money, and certainly, never see our money get bailed out.

Today, there are 47,000,000 who lack health care because they're simply too poor.

37,000,000 in America live below the poverty line.

Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the US.

Median income has not changed markedly for the last five years, indicating stagnating wages.

are going, to see which state gets to benefit the most from this landfall. I know we won't be too surprised by the answer.

and they bitch about welfare queens. Feh!!

The hypocrisy is incredible.

Will see absolutely nothing wrong with this - even as they lose their health insurance and even their homes to the rapacious 'free-enterprise' system. At least under that socialist FDR - they got the New Deal.

sharpness of a jinsu knife. When they come and complain about taxes for social programs, you turn it around and say, you can't have it both ways. You can't cut taxes for social programs, then support a monster like Wall Street that keeps raiding everyone's nest egg.

Goldman Sachs has always been known as a company that rewards top execs heavily; that's why they attract the talent they attract.

But when they do give money, they give it to pretty good causes.

According to http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000085">Open Secrets' profile on GS, of the $27 million in campaign contributions they've made since 1990, 62% has gone to Democrats.

Also, from their Wikipedia entry: "Goldman Sachs has received favorable press coverage for conducting business and implementing internal policies related to reversing global climate change. According to the company web site, the Goldman Sachs Foundation has given $94 million in grants since 1999, with the goal of promoting youth education worldwide. The company also has been on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list since the list was launched in 1998. In November 2007, Goldman Sachs established a donor advised fund called Goldman Sachs Gives that donates to charity funds around the world."

Do they focus on things that are antithetical to progressive causes? Yes, of course. They support Social Security privatization and deregulation of the investment bank and stock trading industries. But those positions would directly benefit them, so it's hard to blame them.

Also, they are often pointed to as the epitome of the "revolving door" between Wall Street and Washington, with many former execs going into high-ranking gov't positions and vice-versa.

But they are not nearly as bad as some of their Wall Street counterparts and other corporate super-earners like Wal-Mart. They are just really smart people who achieve at a high level and make lots of money.

And no, I do not work for them nor have I ever or will I ever. I just respect the company.