Goldman Sachs is taking the piss. An average Q2 bonus of $226,000 per employee raises the prospect of an average $1 million per employee pay-out for the year.
When unemployment keeps rising, when the taxpayer has subsidised the economic stabilisation which has allowed Goldman Sachs to make a $3.4 billion profit in Q2, this is taking the piss on a truly epic scale.
OK, Goldman Sachs has repaid the $10 billion bail-out money it got from the US government, but that doesn't mean it is not still heavily beholden to the taxpayer for keeping afloat the financial system from which Goldman Sachs extracts its profits.
OK you can say that's a contractual obligation but, when the source of the money is the wretched taxpayer, isn't it arrogant to announce employee bonuses on this massive scale?
A normal business can reward its employees as it likes becasue, if it is too lavish, it pays the price in bankruptcy.
Byt Goldman Sachs, we are told, is too big to fail. SDo it will always be underwritten by the taxpayer. This means it can be as reckless in its dealings, and as generous in its bonuses, as it likes - without any fear of paying the price of financial failure.
Governments cannot allow a repeat of this economic cycle by which bankers serially mug the taxpayer.
The fall of Soviet Union consigned Big Brother to history's dustbin, but now we must hoik Big Brother out of his dustbin, wipe him down, and set him to protecting us all from Big Banker.
The question is: Is Big Brother up to it?.
Nice article on Goldman Sachs here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine/1
Thanks Ash
You always manage to hit the nail on the head. Having no problem with legit businesses and people making legit millions this is somthing completely different. Simply put it is subversive theft from the masses and I do not see any evidence of our blundering leaders showing any prospect of being able to control it. Will anarchy prevail in the end game once the taxpayers coffers are completely empty and we cannot support social benefits?
Dave yes, when the cuts in public health-care, education, social services, the armed forces, the transport system, and public services of all kinds are made, it will then be apparent to everyone that these spending reductions are being made to replace the money taken by the bankers. Then there really could be trouble.