[alnitak]

OK, I admit to being slightly jealous :-)

Not sure I could have stomached the working hours though.

One correction: The article reads as if Goldman Sachs is a UK company only based in London, but it's actually an American company with headquarters in Manhattan.

[goldstategop]

Yep. Christmas bonuses for jobs well done! By the way, Jon Corzine once worked for them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[proud_yank]

Such wealth costs. We have been introduced to the phenomenon of the "extreme worker": those for whom office is home, who keep a wardrobe behind their desk and who, when occasionally bumping into a spouse, murmur a "I recognise your face from somewhere". Well, Goldmanites are at the extreme end of extreme.

When a female friend dumped her Goldman boyfriend, he couldn't take it in. "Why?" he kept asking. "Because," she replied. "I see more of Aunt Hilda than you. And she has been dead five years." Typically my friend was asleep when lover boy got home and would still be asleep when he left for work.

Another Goldman widow books hourly slots. "I've lost count of the number of times I've been stood up in restaurants." Divorce rates are high. "Goldman guys are always travelling," says a rival. "The poor wife is left at home while he is probably getting a bit of extra entertainment."

And while you might earn oodles, you will also spend it. One who has escaped says: "Now I live in the country I am amazed how little I spend. Working for Goldman you have so little time you end up paying people to run and live your life for you."

Personally, I would not label this as 'successful'.

Consolation, I guess, for those whose Christmas bonus barely stretches beyond a mince pie.

Work harder.

[JerseyHighlander]

Entry level workers at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan have the 8 hour rule.

You can do anything you want for 8 hours a day, Goldman expects you in the office for the other 16. Grounds for termination if you miss more than an hour a week for 3 weeks of your first 14 weeks. Few actually get their 8 hours away anyway.

Move up the ladder and the hours start to actually get intense.

[SkyPilot]

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his very soul?

Luke 9:25

_{VICTORY CIGAR: Goldman windfall wafts over
to tobacconist Ike Karipides yesterday.}

[kittymyrib]

Can't you just smell the odor of class-warfare in this article? Who cares how the rich spend their money during their brief time on earth. They will all die and will take nothing with them. That's why Jesus urged the really wise people to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Million-dollar bonuses won't mean a thing when we stand before the judgement seat of God.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It's the kind of job you do in your twenties, when you are full of ambition and anxious to conquer the world. After a few years of big bonuses, people tend to leave places like Goldman to go work for more sedate firms.

[ProCivitas]

And what do Goldman-Sachs employees do for work? I think they try to make money for relatively rich people through investment. At least that was their 'business' when a member of my family was working for them. Predominantly Jewish firm as I recall, even as compared with other Wall Street firms.

Doesn't seem to be much constructive purpose to it. No endangered species saved and thriving ... no weak, innocent people defended .... no recycled/synthetic substitutional materials developed to preserve animal habitats....no tyrranical regimes overthrown...no exploration of space and discovery...no eco-factory WorkCo-ops funded to preserve American or British jobs...

Oh well, maybe the 'nouveau riche' will be happy with more vehicles, jewelry, sexual partners and realestate. Their politics probably incline toward what we politely call 'libertarian' i.e. 'mercenary,exploitative, and degenerate', so let's hope they don't fund much of that.

I wonder how this story is going to play on the Al Quaida/ AlJazeera news service.

[Irisshlass]

Looks like Paulson who left a job making 38 million as CEO of Goldman Sachs for the platry salary as head of the Treasury last May was a good investment for his cronies.

[Paul Ross]

I admit to being slightly jealous

You needn't be. Money doesn't buy happiness. To wit, as quoted therein:

Then you feel really empty: why has that guy who is bloody useless got the same? Many can't walk away because they love the money for its own sake. So they just collect houses around the world they will rarely visit."

[Aikonaa]

Capitalism at it's finest.

[oceanview]

this is the structure of the US economy. people was swap paper all day, make insider deals, make fortunes. and you can tune into any thread regarding General Motors on FR, and see people demonizing autoworkers trying to hold onto a $60-70K wage.