Has anything really changed?

NEW YORK (AP) — The fat cats were supposed to get their comeuppance.

After Wall Street’s most prominent firms — by their own admission — helped cause the 2008 financial meltdown and got bailed out by the government, they were supposed to stop handing out million-dollar bonuses to their employees. No one was supposed to get seven- and eight-figure rewards, not after the Great Recession left one in 10 Americans unemployed. Not after President Barack Obama — who on Thursday called such pay “obscene” — had promised to clamp down on lavish bonuses.

It turns out little actually changed.

Americans will see that starting today when JPMorgan Chase & Co. releases its 2009 financial results. The other big banks will follow. The messages will be the same: Compensation is at near-record levels.

The form of the pay is changing. Instead of cash, bonuses will be paid mostly in stock that can’t be redeemed for years. But the numbers are still staggering. Together, the six biggest U.S. banks are on pace to pay $150 billion in total compensation for 2009, slightly less than the record $164 billion in 2007 before the financial crisis struck, according to the New York state comptroller’s office.

Washington is now scrambling to get something done to temper the populist anger. The financial lobby still could block those efforts.