wall street bailout

Nearly 70 top executives at three companies bailed out by the taxpayers during the 2008 financial crisis -- AIG, Ally Financial and GM -- were ordered to take pay 10% cuts by the federal government, and the CEOs had their pay frozen at 2011 levels.

Last week's broadside from an ex-employee didn't help Goldman's image, but all the to-do ignored the public's real issue with the firm.

Bankers worldwide are expecting smaller bonuses this year. Still, they will be hard pressed to find much sympathy as their base salaries were boosted -- in some cases doubled -- this year to compensate for the lower year-end bonuses.

Goldman Sachs Group's (GS) top executives will receive about $111.3 million worth of stock next month in delayed compensation for their work in 2009 and 2007. CEO Lloyd Blankfein will receive about $24.3 million in January, Bloomberg News reported. Gary D. Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs, will...

Though most Americans wish that Congress would rein in excessive pay on Wall Street, that won't happen while the huge campaign contributions keep flowing. And the financial industry's big money shell game drains away something more precious from our society than money -- it siphons off talent.

Historians will look back on Washington's bailout of GM and Wall Street as the right move. That's because it's now clear that the costs of doing nothing would have been far higher, and it turns out that taxpayers may suffer only limited losses on this economic Hail Mary pass.

Investment banks are working around new regulations restricting them from putting their own capital into short-term investments: The Wall Street institutions are sidestepping the Volcker Rule by making direct purchases of securities, companies and properties, which are considered longer-term investments.

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett extracted onerous terms from Goldman Sachs when he saved it from a potential meltdown. Two years later, Wall Street is healthy again, Goldman wants Buffett out of its hair, and he's looking at a $3.5 billion profit on that $5 billion lifeline.

Investors received another sign Friday that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal: The 2010 U.S. budget deficit came in at a smaller-than-predicted $1.29 trillion. Though it was still the second-highest deficit on record, the numbers reflect growth in tax revenues, and thus in the economy.

Citigroup's (C) newest energy banker Stephen Trauber could take home as much as $30 million over three years as part of his juicy new pay package with the bank. Trauber, whom Citigroup poached from Swiss bank UBS (UBS), landed himself the deal just months after pay czar Kenneth Feinberg ended...