Two articles in today’s USA Today caught my eye. One covers Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s declaration that the recession is over. Wow! A financial collapse almost as awful as the Great Depression is over after several months unlike the several years it took to end the Great Depression. One wonders if Bernanke is speaking too soon about this remarkable recovery just as former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan waited too long to speak about the economic catastrophe that seemed to come out of the blue.

Of course, during the Great Depression, the federal government didn’t pour billions of dollars into faltering banks to save them the way the federal government has done this time. Also, in making his announcement about our current financial crisis, Bernanke said that though the recession is over, most people will feel like it isn’t.

Which brings me to the second article. It covers the head-turning recovery of Goldman Sachs. Here’s where a few people do feel that the recession is over. Goldman is reporting record revenue. Its executives are making eight-figure salaries running a company that just a year or so ago was accused of being one of the culprits in the economic disaster that swept the country.

Goldman Sachs was one of the investment banks bailed out by the federal government. When the bailout occurred, taxpayers were assured that companies like Goldman would have to change its ways. No more outrageous compensation packages. Humility would replace greed as a guiding principle.

It’s not going to happen. We’re headed straight back to business as usual. We apparently can’t help ourselves.