I can't believe my eyes, says a flabbergasted Mrs. M. There's a 70% slide in the stock market, and still investment firms are setting aside billions for bonuses.  Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and even Lehman Bros. are back to the old habits and offering outrageous year end rewards.

                    We're experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a $700 billion bail out, a public outcry over excessive pay, and the failure of three of the biggest securities firms and still these bonuses will be paid.  How is this possible?  Do these city executives have no shame?  Goldman has set aside $6.8 billion, Morgan Stanley has $6.4 billion, and Merrill Lynch $6.7 billion.  It's a scandal.  Most of us are awake at night because our shares have slumped, and we don't know how we'll keep our families going. And these greedy execs will use our taxpayers' funds to make their fortunes.

The bonus system should be against the law, or there should be a 95% windfall tax on these grotesque personal benefits.  This is what's wrong with the economy in the first place, and this is why there is no confidence in the financial market.  It benefits only a few, and punishes the rest of us.

The financial community has failed to show any responsibility, guilt, regret, or leadership about this issue.  Execs don't seem to realize how angry the public is.  It's a wonder mobs don't come for them with torches, shouting, 'Lynch the greedy b........!' In Switzerland protesters blocked UBS's private-banking branch last week to seek curbs on executive pay after Switzerland's largest bank was given government aid.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley are each receiving $10 billion... and giving 2/3s of that away in bonuses. Goldman profit has fallen 47% and their shares are down 53%.  Morgan Stanley's earning have fallen 41% and shares have fallen 69%.  How then are these bonuses justified?  Is it just that the execs think they will get away with it?  Is it because we don't know the names of the people on the receiving end?

Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services Committee at the House of  Representatives, suggested there should be a moratorium on bonuses.  'If nobody gave them, there wouldn't be a competitive aspect.'

How can there be faith in the economy when these abuses go on and go unpunished?  No wonder there hasn't been a bounce back in the market.  It's the bonuses, dummies!