Former Goldman Sachs/Merrill Man, What Recession?

Investment banker Peter Kraus, formerly of both Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, has just paid $37 million for a Park Avenue apartment.

Here WSJ reports on Kraus' move to Mother Merrill:

[Because of the Merrill Lynch takeover by Bank America/ Government bailout]former Goldmanite Peter Kraus is getting his $25 million bonus, according to people familiar with the situation, though he has been at Merrill only three months. Kraus left Merrill Friday, shortly after after his rich exit package was triggered by the Merrill sale. In a year when some bankers are being paid with junk, Kraus’s exit payment is a stunner that represents about 0.1% of Bank of America’s $25 billion capital injection from the U.S. government.

New York Magazine has pics, here, of what an American Oligarch gets for $37 million. It's baronial, yet cozy, said the Brown, Harris Stevens real estate brochure hustling the place. Kinda reminds you of the Hooters' slogan, "Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined."