Comments on: Goldman emails show rise of technology and traders

By: MHB

MHB — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:21:51 +0000

Peter I had to chuckle when I read your piece.You have dared to mention the unspoken truth:They were very careless!
Not at all surprising.It is all part and parcel of the hubris that is most definitely not in short supply among the Wall Street types.

By: billgkohl

billgkohl — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:38:56 +0000

On the subject of imposinging restrictions on financial markets, here is a quote on restrictions of Free Markets from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. His observation was occasioned by financial calamities brought about by the practice of “drawing and redrawing” of Bills of Exchange (of which it has been said, “Credit transactions involving bills of exchange are difficult to untangle, even challenging the talents of Adam Smith, who cited the difficulty of the subject of bills of exchange as credit instruments in the Wealth of Nations”). He is discussing methods of restricting the issuance of these bills is a way that would prevent the future occurrence of such calamities.

“To restrain private people, it may be said, from receiving in payment the promissory notes of a banker for any sum, whether great or small, when they themselves are willing to receive them; or, to restrain a banker from issuing such notes, when all his neighbours are willing to accept of them, is a manifest violation of that natural liberty, which it is the proper business of law not to infringe, but to support. Such regulations may, no doubt, be considered as in some respect a violation of natural liberty. But those exertions of the natural liberty of a few individuals, which might endanger the security of the whole society, are, and ought to be, restrained by the laws of all governments; of the most free, as well as or the most despotical. The obligation of building party walls, in order to prevent the communication of fire, is a violation of natural liberty, exactly of the same kind with the regulations of the banking trade which are here proposed.” Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776.

By: billgkohl

billgkohl — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:43:29 +0000

No full moon, just bright daylight on you guys and you’re looking pretty ugly.

By: BigBadBank

BigBadBank — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:35:19 +0000

Must be full moon – worst comments ever.

By: billgkohl

billgkohl — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:43:35 +0000

Someone once said “Greed is good.” At Goldman, the saying is “Greed is Golden.” One assumes from the contents of email and responses at Senate hearings, that ethical behavior at Goldman is based on the Gold Standard, what creates gold for Goldman is ethical. It might be a good idea Wall Street stopped reading “Atlas Shrugged” and started reading “Democracy in America”. (No disrespect to Rand, she is grossly misinterpreted by these people.)

By: geminibb

geminibb — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:06:22 +0000

You can tell how the higher, and older, execs of the company were so much “smarter” in answering questions before the Senate, esp. the CEO.

By: hsvkitty

hsvkitty — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:35:24 +0000

So are you reminding Goldmen et al that they shouldn’t be using blackberries or to shred their emails and paper trails now before they also get caught? I am sure they all know that and have been clamboring for the last week to do so.

So what is your point? Are you scolding them for not being sophisticated enough to ensure no paper trail of their corruption, even though some senior staffers were more diligent in that process?

Yes, how silly of those younger upstarts to not be as adept at hiding their unethical behaviour and use the newest mass media technology! Tch tch! How unsophisticated!

By: freedomadvocate

freedomadvocate — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:23:58 +0000

Ticker Tape/Letters/Email/Voice mails/Instant messages. What does it matter fraudster will always exist and will need to communicate.

What people need to do is not listen to the fraudsters.

Let’s see:
1907 – financial collapse on too much credit – bail-out be JP morgan
1929 – financial collapse on too much credit – bail-out by FDR
1968 – Stock collapse – stock swindlers exposed
1987 – Stock collapse – too much credit – insider trading scandals – junk bond scandals
1993 – Saving and loan scandal – RTC bailout – $400B by tax payers
2000 – Dotcom scandal – new economy – financial collapse – Stock fraud – analyst/CEOs jailed
2008 – Real Estate collapse – too much debt – taxpayer bailout

2012? – Soveriegn debt crisis? Bail out by? maybe no one

on and on…..

By: Turtlepro

Turtlepro — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:54:16 +0000

What is next ? after all this show off and time consuming ,is any thing going to change with these people and their principles ???

By: MACDONALDBANK

MACDONALDBANK — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:42:27 +0000

I earned the Getty Oil Company shareholders 4 Billion Bucks
On the Reserve acquisition; the way they treat me — it really sucks!
As the Getty inheritors bask in glee;
All I asked for was that they look after me.
Four billion dollars they earned on Reserve
My fee I surely deserve.
It turns out J.P. Getty may have been a Nazi;
His family even goes back to Germany.
With Hitler, Goring & Goebbels he did stand;
While trying to undermine the American land!
For paintings & artifacts he did receive
With his oil he was able to deceive?
Hoover & the FBI & Roosevelt they knew
That J.P. Getty & espionage he drew!
Many a young lad and Jew did die
As planes dropped bombs from the sky.
For years while Getty sat in Berlin
He may have committed many a sin.
The ashes and smoke from the chimneys it rose
While old man Getty sat cozy; he chose.
With artwork held tightly under his arm
Still dripping in blood — as the real owner met harm.
Into the ovens & on meat-hooks, bullets between the eyes
Listen very carefully you can still hear their cries!
While the Gettys sit in England; at their estate at Wormsley
And Gordon sings in San Francisco
With his 727 in tow.
The Getty museum sits atop Malibu
While the corpses of World War 2 scream — J.P. Getty — We know you!

Excerpt from … 4 BILLION BUCKS