Granted, the author is known to have an obsession with Goldman Sachs, and you definitely cannot define this as objective reporting. However, if true (and it rather does seem like it is), this is explosive stuff. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511?print=true& Hopefully, this makes some people think and riles them up for some action. In many ways, you are all victims of this crime. American taxpayers deserve better. It is clear that the banks cannot be trusted to regulate themselves, and that the unchecked power and influence such firms as Goldman have in Washington have come at the cost of graft and perjury that has cost American children the opportunity to live debt-free, and American workers the chance at a secure and prosperous job.
Wasn't most of this in The Big Short by Lewis? It's been a while, and I can't remember if they called out GS by name, but how the fraud went down was in there.
This goes into specifics, and targets names and emails obtained from a formal investigation. Big Short was more like-well, this happened, maybe we should do something about it. Broader scope. This nails specific instances and is something that would be admissible in court and should be, if the American people prod a frustratingly passive DOJ and SEC to pursue these crimes. It pretty much is the work the Big Short was implicitly demanding someone to do. I doubt it happens given the entrenched connections within all levels of government that Goldman has, but this works us very much closer to specific instances of criminal fraud that cannot be ignored, rather than a general sense that something is wrong.
sickening, and not at all shocking. The fact that they were allowed and trusted to police themselves is a joke, and one that pretty much tells you in advance how much trouble they will get in for this.
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7101/mrburnsdesk9bq.jpg Ah. Excellent. Also, reminds me to read the article.... Having just read the New Yorker NSA piece, I'm almost out of outrage. Note to self, pitch "Red Bull Rage" beverage to random people in an elevator.
From what I've read, everything Matt Taibbi wrote is fully backed up by the congressional report. There's a reason analysts started issuing sell recommendations on GS stock after it was published.
If Congress has the balls to persecute Roger Clemens for something as trivial as bulking up, and to indict him for perjury, well they better shape up in this case.
The Misrememberer doesn't have the same pull as GS. Hell, that was probably just smokescreen to keep them from getting after their money friends.
If I recall correctly we didn't have to bail Goldman Sachs out but the Treasury insisted they take TARP money to make it more palatable to the markets. That said I agree stuff like this is sickening and its sad that there are still many who are insisting we don't need more regulation or even that we should deregulate more.
no, we were too busy bailing out Goldman Sachs victims like Morgan Stanley instead. GS was fine---they were the deceivers, and not the deceived.
They were going to be probably the last domino to fall, but they would have fallen. It was a systemic collapse - and they were at the very center of the sytem. Hedging your bets is meaningless if your counterparties are erased.
That might've happened but I recall them, GS, not wanting to take TARP money and only doing so because the Treasury wanted them to. I'm not defending GS but they weren't asking for a bail out and I didn't think we needed too, at the time.
Then I can conclude that GS' PR messaging people did a great job if that's all you remember, and I should make sure to figure out who they are and recommend them to others.
GS PR response: We only had like a few billion in AIG, most of which was hedged (strategically omitted: Hedging was by parties who were directly or indirectly exposed to AIG)
I once had to deal professionally with GS and the bankers I dealt with were an amazing combination of cluelessness and unbelievable arrogance. I must admit that it pisses me off that these jerks make such extreme amounts of money.
Incidentally, I have a blog post up that pretty much reinforces why I don't think anyone from GS is going to get persecuted. http://lawmarketballers.blogspot.com/2011/05/goldman-sachs-bi-winning-1100-pound.html
