Bonus Army
For the American economy – and for many other developed economies – the elephant in the room is the amount of money paid to bankers over the last five years. In the United States, the sum stands at an astounding $2.2 trillion for banks that have filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
– Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Mark Spitznagel: The Great Bank Robbery
Ambiance 
karen said,
September 4, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Heh.
Isn’t there a ~Jamie Gorelick~ connection here, as well??
mockturtle said,
September 4, 2011 at 8:21 pm
When you consider that the Federal Reserve is our single biggest debt holder, we have to ask if there is any incentive at all for decreasing the national debt!
Icepick said,
September 4, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Two point two trillion? That’s underestimating things badly. Here’s an article putting the amount to the banks at $5 trillion. And that came out before another revelation that that Federal Reserve had loaned the banks $1.2 trillion not included in the $5 trillion already known. That’s 6.2 trillion dollars to the banks! At least $1.5 trillion of that will never be repaid.
And for this the banks are just parking their money with the Federal Reserve for yet more free money. Disgusting behavior.
Icepick said,
September 4, 2011 at 9:38 pm
The upshot is that we have had a transfer of wealth from everybody else to the financiers – with full approval from our politicians.
And Karen, Gorelick may have had something to do with some of this mess, but so did George Bush, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, as well as the entire Republican Party and the entire Democratic Party. The truth is that the financial interests in this country have bought both parties lock, stock and barrel. Partisanship is completely meaningless now.
mockturtle said,
September 4, 2011 at 9:45 pm
The truth is that the financial interests in this country have bought both parties lock, stock and barrel. Partisanship is completely meaningless now.
Definitely!
karen said,
September 5, 2011 at 7:53 am
I think, ice- that Sarah Palin said the exact same thing. I think i read that on a thread there.
Isn’t she so stupid?