Today's New York Times includes a short story (prominently featured online at 9 am) trumpeting the "big profit" Goldman Sachs is reporting. The NYT notes that some analysts may see this as a sign of a recovering economy.

But read in the context of Matt Taibbi's recent Rolling Stone expose of the decades of profiteering at Goldman Sachs, in which the company has taken money from all Americans over the course of the last five or six economic crashes, it looks more like GS has just taken us for yet another ride, thanks to its friends throughout the financial industry, government, and "independent" financial regulatory organizations.

UPDATE 10:55: Boston Police bomb squad guys -- one in a full space suit, plus their bomb-killing robot -- were called in when a dummy protesting the banking industry and global warming was found at the door of a Bank of America branch in Kenmore Square before it opened this morning.

“The real dummies evict people and fuel climate chaos,” read a sign stuck across the mannequin’s chest.

Even though it’s unnecessary now that so many persuasive voices have railed against plans to rescue the crippled U.S. auto industry, I’m jumping on the “no bailout” pile. My hatred of domestic cars has always been intense, and I enjoy stomping once bloated adversaries while they’re on their knees begging.