Due to the fact that Goldman Sachs is currently the favorite of Washington they are raking in massive profits during a time when most banks and brokerage firms are struggling for survival.
Due to a very successful second quarter, Goldman has set aside $226,156 per employee in compensation – a 75% increase per employee. That means annualized compensation could be $1 million per employee for the year. We find this of great interest inasmuch as the recently converted bank received a $10 billion taxpayer bailout via Goldman’s connections in Washington. They also received a myriad of benefits from several other government schemes over the past two years. It is nice to know that in part American taxpayers made this possible while unemployment is running on a U6 basis at 20.5%, and Americans are losing their homes by the millions.
Pay surged 75% in the second quarter and compensation and benefits costs were $6.65 billion, up 37% from the equivalent quarter in 2008.
The immense profits of 33% were mainly due to trading profits of $2.7 billion. Goldman made up 24% of the Black Box program. Program trading made up 73% of all NYSE trading.
High frequency trading is one of the fastest-expanding strategies on Wall Street. The Street is no longer a place of raising capital, but a vast gambling casino. This is moral hazard at its utmost. Needless to say, the most egregious example is Goldman Sachs. A perfect example of too big to fail as an owner of the Fed. There is no question its activities distorts markets. They are leaders in credit default swaps and taxpayers bailed out Goldman via AIG for $13 billion that you were allowed to pay for. In addition, Goldman is the world’s largest insider-trading hedge fund and they are kings of crony capitalism. Almost everything this conglomeration of crooks are involved in is to the detriment of the US economy and the American people collectively. They rig markets with the complicity of our government who they have bought and paid for. They are master manipulators and creators of bankruptcies.
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