The bonus-tax bill passed by Congress on Thursday puts companies unable to repay bailout money at an extreme disadvantage, Cramer said during Stop Trading!. Those who could clear their debts with Washington, however, might dominate their industry.
Right now, Goldman Sachs looks to be the only financial firm in position to pay back the Troubled Asset Relief Program money it borrowed from the government. That would exempt Goldman from the new law, which puts a 90% tax on all bonuses for executives making more than $250,000, whose companies received at least $5 billion in TARP aid. Cramer thinks the ability to pay Wall Street’s top talent virtually any salary, enticing them away from Goldman’s ailing competitors, would make the company unbeatable.