Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

The contrast in fortunes between Wall Street and Main Street was increasingly intolerable. The big banks had been bailed out. Some of the most unscrupulous bosses might face legal action, but they were not facing personal ruin. They retired to lifestyles of wealth and comfort.46 None had gone to jail. And those at the top of the tree on Wall Street were bouncing back apparently without shame or second thought. The bonus season in 2009 was better than ever, netting $145 billion for the executives at the top investment banks, asset managers and hedge funds, as compared with $117 billion in 2008.47 Goldman made $13.4 billion in profit for its shareholders and paid its own staff $16.2 billion in compensation and bonuses.48 Astonishingly, even Citigroup, which had a loss of $1.6 billion in 2009 and survived the year only due to government action, paid out $5 billion in bonuses. The bankers were happy to leave the past behind, but the American public was not. In the spring of 2010 Wall Street’s approval rating with the general public stood at 6 percent.49