I've had the opportunity lately to talk to some honest-to-God Democrats on Facebook. Its been very instructive--like visiting another country. One of the most surprising aspects has been the discovery that they are still holding onto 1930s stereotypes, including that Wallstreet is a bunch of Republican country-club bankers. Aside from the paradox of finding massive clusters of Republicans in Manhattan and the Hamptons, its just bizarre that Wallstreet's unprecedented post-bail-out prosperity under a Democrat regime, has escaped their notice.

Wall Street’s biggest banks, rebounding after a government bailout, are set to complete their best two years in investment banking and trading, buoyed by 2010 results likely to be the second-highest ever.

The five largest U.S. firms by investment-banking and trading revenue -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley -- will likely have a better fourth quarter than the previous two periods, driven by equity underwriting and higher volume in stock and bond trading, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Even if this quarter only matches the third, the banks’ revenue will top that of any year except 2009.

The surge has come after the five banks took a combined $135 billion from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and borrowed billions more from the Federal Reserve’s emergency-lending facilities in late 2008 and early 2009 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Since then, the firms have benefited from low interest rates and the Fed’s purchases of fixed-income securities.

Gee, its so nice of the Obama administration, Nancy and Harry to be so kind to a bunch of nasty, rich Republicans, isn't it?

Change you can believe in.