June 2009 Comment: Goldman Sachs was one of the first to receive a bailout from the U.S. government and one of the first to pay it back. Now it is the first to report that partners and staff can look forward to record bonus payouts for the first half of 2009. Meanwhile, the rest of the economy continues to languish in the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Goldman Sachs always seems to find the golden seam in the financial markets no matter how dire the circumstances. Citing Goldman Sachs "insiders" London's Guardian newspaper attributed the record bonuses "to a lack of competition and increased revenue from trading foreign currency, bonds, and fixed-income products."