I would say that the rest of the world is laughing at us since this article comes from the UK, but since every other country is pulling similar stunts, I think it’s just the ultra-rich that are laughing at the average taxpayers. Goldman Sachs is apparently paying out more in bonuses this year than WE gave them with our taxpayer-funded bailout money.

Goldman Sachs is on course to pay its top City bankers multimillion-pound bonuses – despite asking the U.S. government for an emergency bail-out.

The struggling Wall Street bank has set aside £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses, it emerged yesterday.

Each of the firm’s 443 partners is on course to pocket an average Christmas bonus of more than £3million.

The size of the pay pool comfortably dwarfs the £6.1billion lifeline which the U.S. government is throwing to Goldman as part of its £430billion bail-out.

As Washington pours money into the bank, the cash will immediately be channelled to Goldman’s already well-heeled employees.

News of the firm’s largesse will revive the anger over the ‘rewards for failure’ culture endemic in the world of high finance.

Read the original article here.