Eye-popping Bonuses at Merrill Lynch

No wonder Merrill Lynch lost money last year. Here's the lead from a story in today's New York Times: 

Merrill Lynch paid out bonuses of more than $1 million each to 696 people last year, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York. 

We admit to being mathematically challenged, but we can figure out that these bonuses alone came to more than $700 million. 

Even Wall Street terms, doesn't a $700 million payout in bonuses seem a teeny bit excessive? Doesn't this smack of financial irresponsibility? Or, in plain language, greed?

For our part, we say "Bring on the regulators!"