"You know what the news is-- in a minute, you're going to hear the rest of the story"- Paul Harvey

I'll show you something more outragious than the AIG bonuses; the Merrill Lynch bonuses. Why isn't anyone focusing on that?

Merrill's bonus payouts were much more outrageous than the ones given out to AIG employees. Oh, but the politicians aren't saying anything about that.

In December, just before Bank of America completed its acquisition of Merrill, CEO, and country club frat boy, John Thain paid out $858 million in bonuses. This is 5.2 times more than the $165 million paid to AIG employees.

Merrill Lynch was clearly a sinking ship, and going forward only an idiot would continue doing business with these guys.

Oh, before I forget. I am sick of seeing the "You and Us" ads by UBS. What a bunch of crap! When I was a broker at JC Bradford, the joke going around the office when UBS PaineWebber took over was UBS stood for, "U Be Screwed".

To show you (again) how intertwined the relationship is between Wall Street and Washington, Senator Chris Dodd came out on Wednesday and admitted he sneaked language into the stimulus bill allowing $165 million in bonuses to AIG executives.

The slime balls are all over the place.

So, with everything on the table, how can Wall Street make you forget about their past crimes and misdeeds? Very simple... Rally the markets!

Investors have short memories when they begin making money. It happened after the NASDAQ crash in 2000, and it will happen again in the months and years ahead.

Good news is beginning to seep out slowly.

General Electric said that GE Capital should show a profit for the quarter. The company also said that GE Capital would not need any additional outside capital.

Bank of America said they were hoping to pay back the TARP money by the end of the year.

Initial jobless claims were not as bad as forecasted, but still remained above 600-thousand for a seventh straight week.

After a sharp 20% rally in the S&P 500, some giveback is to be expected. Volume was rather heavy which showed that buyers were there soppy up stocks from the profit takers.

It looks like the investing mood is beginning to improve!