The Men with the Golden Touch....

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I read this in a story that appeared in yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

"Goldman Sachs posted a $1.7 billion profit today — and with it, Goldman set aside $4.7 billion for salaries and bonuses."

As with most of what happens on Wall Street, I find myself bewildered by the math involved here.

I'm just not clear on how $1.7 million in profit is transformed into $4.7 billion for salaries and bonuses. Apparently, the $4.7 billion number is 50 percent of their revenues for the quarter.

Good deal for the executives at Goldman. Still not clear what the return on the taxpayers' investment will turn out to be.

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