First, keep in mind that a great deal of money floated out into the financial world without any way to trace where it went. There is no way, for example, to know how much capital then went to Goldman Sachs because of its dominant position over other financial institutions. Most of what has been done with the bailout money is kept secret. The presence of a winner doesn't mean Goldman Sachs actually made a profit on its basic business, only that the hidden arrangements allowed enough of the free capital (the bailout) to arrive on Goldman Sachs balance sheets in a way where they could pretend they made a profit.
Now that's just the official bailout money of $750 billion. The Federal Reserve has been giving away over two trillion dollars in free capital, with not only no strings attached, but they have actually refused requests by Congress to give any details. Again, Goldman Sachs (mostly by virtue of all the insiders in the government that formerly worked for this investment house) was positioned to be the direct and indirect beneficiary of this largess, for which our children will pay (I've read that a child born today in America already "owes" to the debt money economy a quarter million dollars).
No one, of course, is going to challenge this claim of Goldman Sachs to have made a profit by its wise business practices, because none of the real information can be viewed, digested and examined for its truthfulness. It was all done behind the scenes and out of sight. What we are seeing is the public relations fallout of an economic stealth war in which members of both the Bush II and the Obama administrations participated. To the ongoing huge economic ponzi schemes, we now need to add a three pods and a pea game. The capital is all hidden, and moved around according to insider rules and agreements. We will all pay, and our children and their children and their children will pay.
No wonder the stock market is seemingly "better" in the immediate present. The economic stealth war is in a phase where the winners are pulling their present day winning pots off of the economic poker table, and everyone (in the know) is taking a little break before the next fake hand is dealt from the bottom of the deck.
