How Goldman Sachs made $200 million in one day as you lost a bunch of money

In this CNBC article today, they explain how mega investment bank Goldman Sachs made $200 million a single day while the stock market lost 4%.  A four percent loss doesn't sound like much.  But you have to ask, 4 % of what?  Four percent of the total value of all stocks in the country.  That's a big number.  Around 1 TRILLION dollars in stock value was lost that week.  So somewhere around $600 BILLION of the money in American retirement plans, 401K's and mutual funds simply disappeared.  Bye-bye.  Gone.  But the good news is that traders at Goldman Sachs made a big bet on volatility going higher, and that bet met them $200 million while the American people lost $1,000 billion in wealth that week. 

Does that make you feel better about your nest egg?  No, I didn't think it would.