Goldman Sachs bankers defy gloom with bonus bonanza

Your tax dollars at work, folks! Now not only do you get to spend 50% of yer paycheck buyin' hot-pockets for the Green Zone contractees in Iraq; you also get to pony up an increasing amount of cash for some 27-year-old banker's new Maserati!

DOZENS of bankers at Goldman Sachs in London could be in line for million-pound bonus payouts following another bumper quarter of profits at the giant investment bank.

Goldman is expected to reveal second-quarter profits of $2 billion (£1.2 billion) on Tuesday, after raking in fees from share and bond issues around the world.

The bank leads an elite group of large financial institutions making huge profits from the disruption in the markets. They are all expected to make large bonus payments to some staff this year.

The payouts come in spite of the enormous losses racked up by the banking sector, which have led to taxpayers around the world stumping up huge sums of money to keep the financial system alive.

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Yes, I know Goldman has paid back the TARP money it borrowed from the US treasury, but this is still obscene given the fact that the entire financial archetecture is basically being supported by the govt. And meanwhile the Fed and treasury are increasingly becoming Goldman Sachs alumni clubs.

What did they do? Use TARP to buy billions of stock in March, then sell it in May, give back the TARP and keep the profits for themselves? Sounds like a sweet move!