So Merril Lynch paid out $3.6 billion in performance bonuses in December 2008 even though the company was going into the toilet. Man why can’t I work for a company that pays me handsomely for being a failure?  Absolutely disgusting.

“It appears that instead of disclosing their bonus plans in a transparent way as requested by my office, Merrill Lynch secretly moved up the planned date to allocate bonuses and then richly rewarded their failed executives,” Cuomo wrote.

The top four Merrill recipients received a combined $121 million; the next four received a combined $62 million; and the next six received a combined $66 million, according to Cuomo.

At Merrill, 696 employees each received at least $1 million, and the top 149 executives received a total of $858 million, Cuomo wrote.

A Bank of America spokesman said “a substantial” amount of Merrill’s bonuses were contractually guaranteed.

What the hell does “contractually guaranteed” mean, if it’s guarenteed how is it a bonus?  Thank you unregulated free market system, we all enjoy bubble after bubble after bubble after bubble…