"He must have wondered whether Goldman would have been better off politically had it incurred giant losses, like Citigroup." (The Economist)
What Goldman did: realize there's a bubble, stop fueling it, limit taxpayer cost, pay back taxpayers, limit bonuses.
What everyone else did: realize there's a bubble, keep fueling it, lose as much money as possible, the taxpayer covers it all anyway, bonuses all around.
Goldman Sachs will have learned it's lesson and never do the responsible thing again.
"New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo questioned Goldman's decision to pay 1556 employees bonuses of at least $1 million after it received TARP funds in 2008,[27] That same period, however, CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other senior executives opted to forgo bonuses, stating they believed it was the right thing to do, in light of "the fact that we are part of an industry that's directly associated with the ongoing economic distress."[28] Attorney General Cuomo called the move "appropriate and prudent," and urged the executives of other banks to follow the firm's lead and refuse bonus payments.
"In June 2009, Goldman Sachs repaid the U.S. Treasury’s TARP investment, with 23% interest (in the form of $318 million in preferred dividend payments and $1.418 billion in warrant redemptions).[29] In December 2009, Goldman announced their top 30 executives will be paid year-end bonuses in restricted stock, with clawback provisions, that must go unsold for five years.[30][31]" (Wikipedia)
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