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Has the holiday spirit hit Goldman Sachs?

Taxpayers, payback begins next month. That's the vow General Motors is expected to make later today, some business press reports this morning. According to the Washington Post, G.M.

Federal prosecutors have charged two men with providing the technical support that enabled Bernie Madoff to conduct his massive Ponzi scheme. The Wall Street Journal says, “They face a maximum of 30 years in prison for allegedly conspiring to falsify the books and records of the firm, as well as creating programs that enabled Mr.

The most recent Goldman Sachs Foundation tax filing was released yesterday, and the New York Times says that it’s “as thick as a phone book” thanks to the firm’s heavy trading and diversified investments. “The list of trades is more than 200 pages, single spaced. Goldman, it seems, invests like no other, even for its own charity,” the paper says. The charitable foundation’s assets have nearly doubled this year to more than $400 million, thanks to the firm’s recent big investments.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level in 13 months yesterday, but don’t get too excited. The Wall Street Journal calls the leap a “skeptics' rally” in which investors are feeling “uneasy.” The paper explains, “For these people, the market is taking on a ‘greater fool’ feel, meaning that many don't really believe in the investments they are making.

The issue of health care reform took a huge step yesterday, with the House of Representatives voting to pass the plan reported out of committee by Democratic lawmakers. Nearly one out of every five dollars nationwide is spent on health care; it’s one of the few industries in America experiencing both employment and fiscal growth, and yet millions of Americans aren’t covered under any provision of the current system.

Shady hedge fund honchos, beware. That's the message the business press declares this morning in its coverage of new charges brought down yesterday against 14 money managers, Wall Street lawyers, and other well-connected investors with ties to the Galleon insider-trading probe.

Evidently, Warren Buffett is a betting man. And a big one at that. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times strike nearly identical headlines this morning in describing Buffett's surprising $26.3 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, both declaring "Buffett bets big" on, of all things, freight trains.