President Obama's mission against "Too Big to Fail" financial institutions has not quite hit its mark.  [We'll hold that for another story.]  However, you can 'take this to the bank': "Goldman Sachs is alive & well and still growing."  Having just concluded the 1st quarter of 2012, Goldman's balance sheet now stands at $951 billion. That's 7.6% higher than the level at the end of 2008.  It's also just $49 billion shy of $1,000,000,000,000 ($1 trillion), which would require a mere 5.2% growth.  But they'll have to do it without much help from inflation. By comparison, Morgan Stanley, which reports earnings on Thursday, had $750 billion of assets at the end of 2011, which is 14% higher than in 2008.  Since 2008, assets at JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank are actually down 5%, although large banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have grown a lot since the crisis - though mainly through acquisitions of large ailing banks, like Bear Stearns, WaMu, and Wachovia. Banks aren’t shrinking.  But nor is the anger behind the too-big-to-fail bailouts.  [Dealbook, 4/17/12]