Recession Proof

Good news everyone, it’s bonus time at Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs will stoke the fury over bankers’ bonuses this week when it increases the proportion of revenues paid to staff despite what could be its worst year for earnings since 1999.

The bank — which will report its final results for 2011 on Wednesday — has already set aside 44 per cent of the $22.76bn (£14.89bn) of revenues it generated during the first nine months of the year to pay staff. The lion’s share will be shared by a small number of elite level “partners”.

[…]

This would counter banking industry arguments that remuneration policies are set up to reward those who generate good performance for all the bank’s shareholders rather than just to keep senior staff in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

So Goldman is holding out on its own shareholders in order to pay fat bonuses to its “elite partners” instead? This is the kind of thing that would get a mafioso strung up in a meat locker, but in the straight world these days it’s just par for the Zeitgeist. They’ve had the worst year since 1999, but Goldman executives will still be able buy Lamborghini’s for their favorite teenage nieces. Lovely. Oh yeah, and pay off the cops to keep the system running smoothly. Our oligarchs are recession proof.

I wonder, would Bain Capital turn Goldman Sachs around or bust it up, sell the spare parts, and fire all the staff? Just curious.