The UK Guardian in today's edition wrote that the top six Wall Street investment banks have collectively set aside US$70 billion for salaries and - mostly - bonuses for the geniuses who did so well for the banks.
The Guardian lists Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan-Chase, and Lehman - Lehman in its bankruptcy filing claimed that setting aside $6.12b in bonus payments was reasonable and justified. These guys deserve the money just for the bare-assed cheek. $70 billion is 10% of the $700b bailout package.
At Morgan Stanley, the bonus pool at one point exceeded the stock market value of the bank. As the Guardian points out, the employees could have clubbed together and simply bought the bank.
At Citi, the pool is at $25.9b - more than the $25b government hand-out the bank accepted earlier.
This has been widely reported here in Europe, I have not seen it picked up by US media.