Goldman Sachs having record year, will pay record bonuses

Banking is back, baby! It cost investors $30 trillion in losses and took a $12.8 trillion taxpayer funded bailout, but who cares? We know bankers are running the world and the ones who survived are taking advantage of the losers -- and that includes taxpayers who helped them. Goldman Sachs Group (GS) is rumored to be having a record year which will yield record bonuses, and banker base salaries -- which are a small proportion of total compensation when times are good -- are rising 60 percent.

How did Goldman do it? Not much detail -- but that is true even when Goldman files financial reports with the SEC. Rumor has it that "a lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products" has sent Goldman profits soaring. Bankers will get "bumper bonuses" if, as predicted, 2009 is Goldman's most profitable year.