Goldman Sachs vs. Rolling Stone

[yeahwho]

This is ground that has been covered in more prestigious periodicals way before our economy caved in but.... The Great American Bubble Machine by Matt Taibbi (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine/#)is fucking great! Watch the videos, it'll suck you into the story.

It has caused quite a stir... and without asking I know that it's affected all of us who live here on earth. These guys knowingly took down the system to line their pockets (Goldman Sachs is just the example, but right on top of the list of corporate malfeasance) and now are using "Plan B" a direct line into your paycheck via taxes.

Check it out and take your time to savor this story. Matt uses some hyperbole, has been roundly criticized by corporate stooges but he isn't lying. This shit is true!

Critiques;

A Wall Street Smackdown Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1908562,00.html?iid=tsmodule)

Seattle PI (http://www.seattlepi.com/business/407851_goldman04.html)

NYTimes (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/goldman-and-rolling-stone-writer-go-to-war/)

Every major journalism outlet (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=rolling%20stone%20matt%20taibbi&sa=N&tab=wn&um=1) is watching from the sidelines

The distractions are dying down now, hopefully this piece will get some traction.

[yeahwho]

Just the first paragraph is brilliant, it conjures up that "War of the Worlds (http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&um=1&q=war%20of%20the%20worlds%20tripod&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iv#)" machine.

The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

[yeahwho]

Last summer every barrel of oil was traded 27 times before (http://www.rollingstone.com/videos/player/28915225)it was actually delivered to you, the customer. Thus with a glut of oil during the summer of 2008, you paid over $4 per gallon to help out oil speculators.

This is one of many ways our country has been fleeced, robbed and raped by various corporations which deliver NO product.

This is how we're collapsing, this is how we are drying up our economy. Taibbi is laying it out very clear here.

The damage done is not as immediate as our war in the middle east, but in the long run the implications are horrid to our Country.

Great writing. Frightening consequences. ignore at your own peril.

[yeahwho]

When high finance is as embedded and complicated to follow as this particular institution I guess the masses just say "Fuck It" my plate is full, I work hard and never gain, I may lose my job, my family is scrimping, everything seems to be increasing in price...

But for Goldman Sachs, a Swift Return to Lofty Profits NYTimes/7-12-2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/business/13goldman.html?_r=1&hp)

Analysts predict the bank earned a profit of more than $2 billion in the March-June period, because of its trading prowess across world markets. If they are right, the bank’s rivals will once again be left to wonder exactly how Goldman, long the envy of Wall Street, could have rebounded so drastically only months after the nation’s financial industry was shaken to its foundations.

The obsessive speculation has already begun, along with banter about how Goldman’s rapid return to minting money will be perceived by lawmakers and taxpayers who aided Goldman with a multibillion-dollar cushion last fall.

“They exist, and others don’t, and taxpayers made it possible,” said one industry consultant, who, like many people interviewed for this article, declined to be named for fear of jeopardizing business relationships.

I use the NYTimes link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Company) because interestingly enough... they are beholden and actually muzzled a bit about this story due to the fact they're dumping another major US Newspaper holding (Boston Globe) and wouldn't you know it, their investment banker is "Goldman Sachs (http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/06/times_co_report_2.html)" WTF will it take for the general population to figure out what is happening here?

As usual, the readers comments illuminate (http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/business/13goldman.html?sort=recommended) the story in it's proper light. They are a must read.

[yeahwho]

The NYTimes is following suit with another Ed/Op by Paul Krugman "The Joy of Sachs (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1)".

First, it tells us that Goldman is very good at what it does. Unfortunately, what it does is bad for America.

Second, it shows that Wall Street’s bad habits — above all, the system of compensation that helped cause the financial crisis — have not gone away.

Third, it shows that by rescuing the financial system without reforming it, Washington has done nothing to protect us from a new crisis, and, in fact, has made another crisis more likely.


More excellent readers responses (http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/opinion/17krugman.html?sort=recommended)





And then just for pure entertainment value watching Max Keiser (Financial journalist, documentary filmmaker) have an honest exchange on a UK financial program this week,

Go to the 2:00 min. mark for a great response to Goldman Sachs latest profiteering, Max Keiser takes offense (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoQrYa_NKQQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldmansachs666.com%2F&feature=player_embedded)to Goldman Sachs oligarchy...


Welcome to the sucker class, suckers.

[b i o n i c]

it blows my mind that this thread goes without responses while perfectly intelligent people go on for pages arguing about nothing on every other thread.

why is this so difficult to accept? do people think these guys are hysterical nuts making this shit up? is that why?

[yeahwho]

it blows my mind that this thread goes without responses while perfectly intelligent people go on for pages arguing about nothing on every other thread.

why is this so difficult to accept? do people think these guys are hysterical nuts making this shit up? is that why?
The complexity and duplicity of corporate law with government legislation destroying our economic/capitalist way of life is overwhelming.

Only recently has this hit me right between the eyes. I understand that it's boring, un-sensational reading. I respect Matt Taibbi's and many of the other writers I've linked to for their efforts to write and try to make this very true story interesting'

Because folks, this is the story of the complete unraveling of the American Empire. How it ends is really up to us. It is on.

[yeahwho]

Joseph Stiglitz was given an invitation to the White House for dinner recently, he is this guy (http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=89565) and some folks are starting to take notice of what many already know, his prophecies are continually exact.

The Most Misunderstood Man in America (http://www.newsweek.com/id/207390/page/1) from Newsweek July 27 issue

The work that won Stiglitz the Nobel in 2001 showed how "imperfect" information that is unequally shared by participants in a transaction can make markets go haywire, giving unfair advantage to one party. The subprime scandal was all about people who knew a lot—like mortgage lenders and Wall Street derivatives traders—exploiting people who had less information, like global investors who bought up subprime- mortgage-backed securities. As Stiglitz puts it: "Globalization opened up opportunities to find new people to exploit their ignorance. And we found them."

[roosta]

that article is stunning, shocking, amazing and depressing.

[yeahwho]

Just because a stock, commodity, real estate transaction or simple credit card is traded legally in the United States with the backing of federal law standards and open access to anyone who participates... including your employer, your neighbors, your IRA, 401K, your own city, municipality, state and insurance company investments,

just because everyone is participating, fucking remember, it still doesn't mean your not being scammed by both the folks who legislate it and the company who provides the transaction.

Nothing has changed, so beware. I'm pissed, if I'm pissed I cannot help but think many, many millions of more people are pissed that a more stringent investigation and regulation is put upon the current American way of business.

Shit, it's Tuesday! Another 14,000 people in the United States will lose their jobs today.

[yeahwho]

Just read this eye opening Op/Ed piece by Greg Smith from the New York Times March 14th 2012 edition.

Titled, Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all)

excerpt....

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.

I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.

How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.

Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The problem of replacing long term greed with short term greed isn't limited to financial firms. All businesses now follow this model, and we all suffer for it. Closing factories in the US and replacing their products with foreign made ones, or finding the lowest costs for materials with minimal regard to quality, even hiring illegal aliens who offer their labor for significantly discounted rates: all of these "savvy" business practices represent a race to the bottom where the executive class is enriched while the rest of us become ever more impoverished. This is what unregulated capitalism looks like.

The article has been the most read article this week and has triggered quite a bit of attention from the business community over our current "Greed Culture" and how America has declined from this fucked up ethic.

Public Exit From Goldman Raises Doubt Over a New Ethic (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/business/a-public-exit-from-goldman-sachs-hits-a-wounded-wall-street.html?ref=opinion)

A response from Goldman Sachs (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/goldman-executive-resigns-via-public-letter/?ref=opinion#goldmans-response-to-smiths-op-ed)