Bonuses will skyrocket at "Government Sachs"

The investment bank Goldman Sachs delivered a clear signal that the good times are returning on Wall Street by milking a recovery in financial markets to generate profits of $3.44bn (£2.12bn), raising the prospect of average pay packages of as much as $900,000 for its employees.

Goldman's second-quarter earnings, which amounted to $38m per day, were up 65% on 2008 and confirmed the US bank's status as one of the stand-out winners from the credit crunch which paralysed the financial industry for much of last year.

The firm's revenue of $13.76bn was the highest in its 140-year history. Its success on the trading floor is likely to translate into record bonuses...

During the quarter, Goldman dedicated 49% of its revenue to paying its staff – amounting to a compensation fund of $6.65bn, or $226,000 for each of its 29,200 staff. If the bank's bottom line prospers to the same degree for the rest of the year, employees could end up with average annual pay of more than $900,000 – an increase of nearly 150% on last year's figure of $363,000...

Goldman's success has generated its fair share of detractors. Critics point out that the bank was the biggest counterparty in financial insurance policies to the insurer AIG and that its collateral calls contributed to the US company's collapse, requiring AIG to seek $150bn of government aid.

Furthermore, Goldman itself received $10bn from the US government's troubled asset relief fund, which it paid back last month to avoid any further caps on dividends or remuneration.

And this comment from Robert Reich:

Goldman is skillful at playing the market. Now that most of its major competitors are out of the action or still under the strict control of the Treasury and the Fed, it has the market mostly to itself. Expect the others to jump back into high-risk deals as soon as they can. But Goldman is also skillful at playing politics -- something its rivals aren't nearly as good at. Recall that last fall, at a closed meeting between Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (formerly Goldman's CEO), Tim Geithner (then at the New York Fed), and a handful of others to decide on the fate of giant insurer AIG, Goldman's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, was at the table. The decision to bail out AIG resulted in a $13 billion giveaway to Goldman because Goldman was an AIG counterparty. Indeed, Goldman executives and alumni have played crucial roles in guiding the Wall Street bailout from the start.