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More than year after receiving massive infusions of capital through taxpayer funded bailouts, major Wall Street firms posted strong third quarter profits last week. JP Morgan Chase’s reporting of a $3.6 billion dollar profit on Wednesday lifted the Dow Jones industrial average over 10,000 points for the first time in over a year. Goldman Sachs followed the next day by posting better than expected third quarter earnings. With the resurgence of profits, The Wall Street Journal has reported that employees at major firms are set to be paid a record-high of $140 billion dollars this year. As the unemployment rate continues to rise nationally, annual earnings for many working at investment banks, asset managers, hedge funds, and stock and commodities exchanges are expected to top 2007 peak levels. JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have set aside billions in bonuses for its employees as no serious government regulation has reigned in the culture of excessive executive compensation that encouraged risk-taking ventures key to the collapse of the financial system. The two major Wall Street firms’ strong third quarter earnings are attributable to robust trading profits. In the case of JP Morgan Chase, it helped the major bank offset its substantial loan losses which signaled the continued economic hardships exhibited by high unemployment and diminished home values.

GUEST: Nomi Prins, former investment banker turned journalist, is author of the book “It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.”