On Saturday, I shared some thoughts about the automotive industry bailouts. I lightly touched on the fact that I find it galling I have heard more people complaining about that then the bank bailouts.

As I noted in that article, the union contract doesn't overpay employees at all (contrary to popular opinion).

If carried out as planned, by 2010--the final year of this existing contract--total compensation for the average UAW worker would actually be less than total compensation for the average non-unionized worker at a transplant factory.

The banks? Different story.

Workers at the largest financial institutions are on track to earn as much money this year as they did before the financial crisis began, because of the strong start of the year for bank profits.

Even as the industry’s compensation has been put in the spotlight for being so high at a time when many banks have received taxpayer help, six of the biggest banks set aside over $36 billion in the first quarter to pay their employees, according to a review of financial statements.

Yep. $36 billion in the first quarter to pay employees. Some of you may have lost your jobs over the past few months. The bankers, however, are doing just fine.

Of the large banks receiving federal help, Goldman Sachs stands out for setting aside the most per person for compensation. The bank, which nearly halved its compensation last year, set aside $4.7 billion for worker pay in the quarter. If that level continues all year, it would add up to average pay of $569,220 per worker — almost as much as the pay in 2007, a record year.

Goldman Sachs, you may recall, set the bar for paying bonuses after receiving government assistance.

Goldman paid the highest per employee bonus average among top banks reporting so far, and the firm's bonuses were nearly double the average bonus on Wall Street.

You may also recall that Goldman Sachs is spending some of that bailout money to fight the Employee Free Choice Act.

It isn't just the banks. The AFL-CIO has created a website which gives information about pay disparity. 2009 Executive PayWatch notes that the median income for CEO's in 2008 was $7.7 million.

The 2009 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch site...points out that the perks for executives rose on average by 12.5 percent in 2008 to $336,248—or nine times the median salary of a full-time worker. Even more appalling is the practice of rewarding executives who drive their companies into the ground.

For example, the site reports that in 2007—the year the financial crisis began to unfold—the top 10 recipients of the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) collectively paid their CEOs a combined $242 million in total annual compensation. That averages nearly $25 million per CEO to run companies that might have gone bankrupt if not for billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.

Nine times the median salary of a full-time worker.

Where's the tea party on this one?