It’s been in the news the last couple of days. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) bankers are headed for record bonuses. The Financial Times reports that bankers’ pay in the London market is already right back to 2007 levels and going higher. Banks are poaching each others’ best staff, and are offering huge pay packages to staffers willing to make the leap.

States on the brink… hard numbers on another crisis yet to come… Chris Mayer on a recent energy crossroads, centuries in the making… The end of an impressive streak… popular commodity rises for 54 days in a row… Commodities and stocks sell off… Rob Parenteau on what’s gotten into Mr. Market… Plus, Dan Amoss on the credit crisis: Can the free market be blamed?

U.S. stocks slid on Monday as investors questioned the strength of an economic recovery, while energy shares were dragged down by lower oil prices. After a sharp three-month rally, indexes have eased as traders increasingly questioned if stocks are due for a correction.

Whether it’s heading up or down, the oil market usually asserts itself as the leader of the commodities world.  Having plunged from levels around $130 per barrel this time last year all the way down to the $40s, the market has spent the last couple of months striking to the upside again.

A way to play the global economy decline is by shorting the airline industry. Here we turn to underground investor Martin Denholm, writing in today’s Smart Profits Report. The problem with the airline industry is that in business terms, it can be “lose-lose,” no matter what the economy is doing…

Brother, can you spare half a million? Your family’s (new and improved) share of U.S. debt… GM officially kaput… the dirty details and a brief rant, below… Markets hit a critical “pivot point,” says Rob Parenteau… The one number from China that’s boosting stocks, commodities and currencies today… Plus, two good reasons to buy a precious metal… especially silver

“Investing in agriculture today will be like investing in the oil sector in 2001-2002,” writes Mark McLornan in the May issue of Marc Faber’s Gloom Boom & Doom Report. McLornan runs a fund that invests in farmland. Some of his on-the-ground observations confirm many of the things I’ve been telling my readers for the past several years.

A detailed report from the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) says the U.S. economy will recover in the third quarter after a continued contraction in the second.

Currencies consolidate…  Brazil posts a surplus!  Dr. Marc Faber speaks…  High yielders rule! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!