earning big money in the private sector

Perhaps taking a page out of the Australian Wheat Board's book (and whatever became of that?), Scott Anthony Walker, a 36 year old ex-Australian Army soldier, has been jailed for nine months in the US for his role in a $US900,000 Afghanistan security contract kickback scandal.

Walker took a job as security co-ordinator in Kabul with engineering companies Louis Berger Group and Black & Veatch.

The companies, as a joint venture, won a $US1.4 billion ($A1.62 billion) US government contract and Walker used his position on a committee to attempt to solicit $US900,000 in kickbacks from private security vendors seeking subcontracts.

After leaving the Australian Army, Walker was lured to Afghanistan by the prospect of earning big money in the private sector.

The bloke should have stayed in Australia: AUSTRALIANS' individual wealth rose by an average of more than $10,000 in the last three months of 2009, data from the Reserve Bank revealed on the same day as the share market took its worst plunge in nine months.

And the bloke definitely should have gone into banking, instead:

Goldman Chief Gets Bonus of Only $9 Million in Record Year

The award is well below the $68 million bonus Mr. Blankfein received in 2007, even though 2009 was a record year for the Wall Street bank.

Guambat will lie awake tonight in his burrow fantasizing what it must be like to make $750.000.00 PER MONTH. In a bad year!

Commentary: J.P. Morgan's bonus is low by Wall Street standards

Jamie Dimon's paycheck may be the biggest blow to Wall Street reform this year.

The chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was awarded a $17 million bonus

The bonus, which is for 2009, is at a level far below previous bonus paydays for Dimon who collected $27.8 million in 2007 and $39.1 million in 2006. But the bonus is up from 2008, when Dimon didn't collect a bonus at all, just a $1 million salary.