That's the message. In just one short year, Goldman Sachs has morphed from an organisation that was 'too big to fail' into one which is now 'too successful to exist'.

At a time when we should be celebrating that the world's largest financial institutions, vital to our own economic wellbeing, have come back from the brink, we are pointing the finger of blame at the likes of Goldman, and complaining about how successful they have become. And Goldman, of course, is being beat about the head for government interference it never wanted, and a bailout it never sought.

'Oh, but the bankers were to blame for the financial crisis', I hear you cry. And, yes, some bankers were - about 50 at Merrill Lynch, 20 or so at UBS and perhaps a handful at the likes of Morgan Stanley, etc. Yes, some bankers got greedy, and a lax regulatory regime and a 'no-questions-asked' corporate culture enabled them to exploit the system and make off with huge payouts before the balloon went up. Yes, some banks got greedy, and were encouraged to be so by governments around the world, who closed their eyes to risk, and were seduced by heady tax revenues.

But these bankers (and some of those banks), of course, are long gone. So coming down hard on bankers now (the smart ones who have actually navigated their way through the crisis), is simply shutting the gate after the proverbial bonus horse has bolted.

Also, the criticism of bankers, especially those over at Goldman Sachs, has become way too personal. In some cases, like over at New York gossip website Gawker, it's practically a hanging party. Gawker last week announced its 'Goldman Project'. In the name of transparency, the website has called on realtors who have sold duplexes to firm bankers, and ex-girlfriends who are aware of their former Goldman lovers' spending plans, to blow the whistle. Yes, that's right. A clarion call which may discourage Goldman staff from spending their bonus cash, and, as a result, may make life even more difficult for the 'little people' in whose very name Gawker claims it is mounting this campaign in the first place. Sheer madness. 

People need to understand that, far from Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein being forced to advise his staff to avoid ostentatious purchases this year-end, he should feel comfortable enough to encourage them to blow the lot - spread the goodwill around to the realtors, the yacht-clubs, the personal trainers, the luxury goods firms, and get the money moving around the economy.

And then there are the journalists and commentators who think that we should simply impose a 'supertax' on banks or bankers (or both) - in the name of economic fairness. Yes, take the money away from those who've actually earned it, and give it to government to make a decision on how to spend it. Yes, instead of spending it on real goods and services that will actually benefit the whole economy, let's give it to government to spend on 'pork barrel' projects, stimulus programs that don't stimulate, wars we shouldn't be waging, and black holes we still call social programs. The irony of all this is that, although we may not have achieved economic armageddon last fall, we'll surely end up there if the clowns at Gawker, the left-leaning media and the bandwagon-jumping politicians have their way. Let's not have the lunatics running the asylum (any more).

This article was penned and edited by Vic Daniels

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