The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election.  

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for Goldman Sachs, his old firm.  

But, if you look more closely at Paulson's transaction, the taxpayers were taken for a ride - a very expensive ride. They paid $125 billion for bank stock that a private investor could purchase for $62.5 billion. That means half of the public's money was a straight-out gift to Wall Street, for which taxpayers got nothing in return.  

These are dynamite facts that demand immediate action to halt the bailout deal and correct its giveaway terms. Stop payment on the Treasury checks before the bankers can cash them.  

Open an immediate Congressional investigation into how Paulson and his staff determined such a sweetheart deal for leading players in the financial sector and for their own former employer.  

Paulson's bailout staff is heavily populated with Goldman Sachs veterans and individuals from other Wall Street firms. Yet we do not know whether these financiers have fully divested their own Wall Street holdings. Were they perhaps enriching themselves as they engineered this generous distribution of public wealth to embattled private banks and their shareholders? 

meanwhile ….. 

More than half of the sum that was supposed to be used to make new consumer loans is to be paid to the banks’ shareholders, with government permission, over the next three years. 

The government said it was giving banks more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders don't serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary program. 

Critics, including economists and members of Congress, question why banks should get government money if they already have enough money to pay dividends - or conversely, why banks that need government money are still spending so much on dividends. 

"The whole purpose of the program is to increase lending and inject capital into Main Street. If the money is used for dividends, it defeats the purpose of the program," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has called for the government to require a suspension of dividend payments. 

Banks To Continue Paying Dividends 

and, in the UK ….. 

Goldman Sachs is on course to pay its top City bankers multimillion-pound bonuses - despite asking the U.S. government for an emergency bail-out.  

The struggling Wall Street bank has set aside £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses, it emerged yesterday.  

Each of the firm's 443 partners is on course to pocket an average Christmas bonus of more than £3million.  

The size of the pay pool comfortably dwarfs the £6.1billion lifeline which the U.S. government is throwing to Goldman as part of its £430billion bail-out.  

As Washington pours money into the bank, the cash will immediately be channelled to Goldman's already well-heeled employees.  

News of the firm's largesse will revive the anger over the 'rewards for failure' culture endemic in the world of high finance.  

Goldman Sachs Ready To Hand Out £7Billion Salary & Bonus Package ... After Its £6bn Bail-Out