Recall the Rolling Stone description of Goldman Sachs (GS) as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." So is that good thing or a bad thing? For some, this is a virtue, as long as the blood funnel is properly jammed. It's clear to many that the bank does not randomly throw its funnel around. It's culture makes it as circumspect as could be, if you ask its supporters.

TheStreet.com says this: "It is also run in a way that puts the interests of the bank above the individual. Its intense review process, in which it methodically culls underperformers from its ranks every year, is one example of this philosophy at work. Another is the fact that compensation is divided more evenly throughout the bank than at many competing institutions. If the bond desk has a great year, the equities desk will share some of that success, and vice versa. Other banks don't work like that." You can quibble with the firm's ethics, but it has been very successful. And I have to admit I was somewhat surprised by its willingness to cut back on compensation. Perhaps it truly is a bank apart.   

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