Mr Thain's accomplishments at MER - the Goldman bonus pool of 2007

At Merrill, some hazardous and insane decisions go on, initiated by Mr Thain. Mr. Thain, Krauss and Montag all ex- Goldmans got a total welcome package of close to $500 million for 3 guys who cook with water - they can by no means walk on water. That anyone allows for such hiring methods in times of crisis is outrageous.

Excerpt from:
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/27287229
A management shakeup is expected at Merrill Lynch in the coming days, people close to the firm told CNBC, with changes including the departure of Peter Kraus, head of strategy at the investment bank.

AP

Kraus received a pay package worth around $90 million to join Merrill, replacing the pay package that he left at Goldman Sachs earlier this year. He is expected to receive a golden parachute payment worth possibly tens of millions of dollars as part of his departure from Merrill.

The move comes as Bank of America [BAC Loading... () ] begins to form a new management structure.

That new structure will also the include the appointments of Tom Montag as new head of capital markets, and Greg Fleming as head of Merrill's corporate and investment bank, and Robert McCann as head of wealth management.

Excerpt from Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoRx5nTmsFNs&refer=home

A payment of that size would be more than double the $40 million Morgan Stanley awarded CEO John Mack last week for his 2006 performance and surpass the $30.1 million that Goldman paid its former chief, Henry Paulson, last year. New York-based Goldman may disclose its executive bonuses later today.

Blankfein, 52, can get more because a compensation plan approved by shareholders earlier this year allows the firm to pay as much as 0.6 percent of pretax earnings to each of its 25 top executives. That works out to $87.4 million apiece, based on Goldman's $14.6 billion of profit before tax. Shareholders also eliminated a $35 million cap on bonuses paid in cash and stock.

``You almost have to feel for the other players because their performance has been dwarfed by Goldman's,'' said Brian Foley, a compensation consultant in White Plains, New York. ``At the end of the day, taking the cap out paves the way for paying a bigger bonus.''

Blankfein, who joined Goldman as a gold salesman in 1982, took over in June after Paulson left to become U.S. Treasury secretary. Goldman's net income rose 70 percent to $9.54 billion in the fiscal year that ended Nov. 24, the most in the history of Wall Street. Shares of Goldman have gained 59 percent this year, the biggest advance in the 12-member Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index.

A big part was made by initiating dealing and trading with mortgage-related products that year and Secretary Paulson was a centerpiece of those operations in 2006.