NO SURPRISE HERE

Surprises come and go.

But there's two things today that shouldn't surprise you: Wall Street profits are down but Wall Street bonuses are up--three percent. And the other half of our great two party system, the Democrats, are in denial about Hilliary Clinton's long, considerable and contemptible baggage.

Both should be mixed into a cocktail along with a pinch of the evening news and knocked down nightly to bolster your confidence in what many call the system.

Hilliary's pathetic history speaks for itself for those who don't suffer from political and historical dyslexia. But Wall Street--isn't that the group the Fed recently bailed out--who among us would of thought they'd be so brazen so soon with taxpayer money? Surely, not you nor I.

Even General Motors showed more respect for taxpayer dollars notwithstanding those faulty ignition problems that somehow didn't get a timely recall.

If leopards never discard their spots, Wall Street never tempers its greed.  

Now we have Goldman Sachs, another major Wall Street firm pulling their version of  Captain Louis Renault in the movie classic, "Casablanca":  "I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!”

Change gambling to greed, they both start with G, and you have a great picture of Goldman Sachs's recent claim: "Goldman  No. 2 'freaked out' by tanking bond yields," as reported by MarketWatch, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldmans-president-is-freaked-out-by-tanking-european-bond-yields-2015-03-11?dist=afterbell

Goldman Sachs’s second-in-command, Gary Cohn is freaked out about the pervading trend of negative interest sweeping across Europe. 
 
Cohn told CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” on Wednesday that negative rates, in which investors effectively pay government bond issuers for holding their debt, “freaks him out.” 

Cohn’s frank response is saying something, coming from the towering, 6’4’’ president and chief operating officer of the world’s most prominent investment bank, which is known as a bond trading powerhouse.

The Goldman honcho noted that negative yields make it hard in the insurance, asset management and pension businesses to generate a return. Those institutional investors represent a good chunk of Goldman’s clientele. 

The last paragraph really says it all. This is a not so subtle message to Goldman's many close friends at central banks everywhere, it's the other, little guy's ox that should be getting gored not ours. 

Call it a great big, financial "Whoa!" Time to take another look at this madness. It's a spin on the old three Fs--friends, family and fools. We don't mind them taking there low-yield lumps, but not us.

We're Wall Street investment bankers.

Now about those Wall Street bonuses, we think you already know the facts.