Last year, 5 investment banks injected a total of $36 billion in bonuses to their staff

"Goldman Sachs; Morgan Stanley; Merrill Lynch; Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns are about to reward their 173,000 employees with $36 billion in bonuses.

That's a 30 percent increase from last year's record, and it doesn't include the billions more that will be paid by Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the three largest U.S. banks, as well as the hundreds of hedge funds and private-equity firms that constitute the financial industry. Bonuses range from $150,000 to over $20 million. Managing Directors bonuses range from $700,000 to $7 million."

[link to activerain.com]