Goldman Sachs’s (GS) top seven executives will not receive bonuses for 2008, a spokesman for the firm told FOX Business.

The executives made the request of the board’s compensation committee, and the board on Sunday approved the request, the spokesman said. 

The list of executives includes CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who in 2007 earned $68.5 million in cash and stock; as well as David Viniar, the chief financial officer; Co-Presidents Jon Winkelreid and Gary Cohn, who earned more than $65 million each last year themselves; and Vice Chairmen Michael Evans, Michael Sherwood and John Weinberg.

“Our senior officers decided on this course of action because they believe it to be the right thing to do,” the Goldman spokesman said.

This means that the seven will be eligible only to receive their base salaries of $600,000 each, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Because Goldman is part of the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, it was facing limits on compensation for its CEO, chief financial officer and three other highest-paid executives anyway.

The move may turn out to be a wise one, because Americans -- including officials in Washington -- have expressed anger that U.S. taxpayers may be subsidizing companies through the TARP program that will turn around and give millions or even billions of dollars in bonuses to people who are already highly compensated.

Goldman has come in for particular scrutiny because Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used to be its CEO, and the administrator of the TARP program, Neel Kashkari, worked at Goldman as well.

The firm has had a turbulent 2008, along with the rest of the financial-services industry -- but it has fared better than many of its rivals in a year that saw three of the biggest U.S. investment banks either go belly-up or be bought. Of its main rivals, Morgan Stanley (MS) is still independent, but Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Bear Stearns was bought by JPMorgan (JPM) earlier this year and Merrill Lynch (MER) agreed in September to be taken over by Bank of America (BAC).

Goldman recently decided to change its status to that of a bank holdings company, which means it’s subject to more regulation, but it’s also eligible for more government protections.

Goldman’s shares are down 69% year to date. They closed Friday at $66.73, down 4.7% in the session.