Despite bailout, many brokers likely to get bonuses

With the average person footing the bill for the $700 billion bailout, taxpayers may be forgiven for feeling that bonuses for the heads of the largest financial services companies are not quite fair.

Recently, executives at Goldman Sachs announced that they would not be taking bonuses this year, a high-profile decision that may impact other firms in the industry.

However, although big bosses could refuse compensation, the Associated Press reports that thousands of midlevel brokers are still likely to receive large bonuses because companies are afraid of losing them.

The money that is given to workers at a lower level is not required to be disclosed in public filings, so it is likely to receive less scrutiny than the highly publicized compensation of CEOs.

Alan Johnson of Johnson Associates told the news provider that even if executives forgo bonuses, "thousands of other people will get paid millions."

"There won’t be a lot eight-figure bonuses, but there’s going to be lots of sevens," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has testified in front of Congress about the effects of the bailout on the U.S. economy.

He suggested that although the credit markets are still not in good health, there are signs that they are improving.