Check out the headline at the bottom left of the Sunday Times front page. The man the London paper calls the most powerful banker on Earth says he is “just a banker ‘doing God’s work’” .
The report says Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein“proudly pays himself more in a year than most of us could ever dream of — $68m in 2007 alone, a record for any Wall Street CEO, to add to the more than $500m of Goldman stock he owns” .
Goldman Sachs looks set to pay about $20 billion in bonuses for its top traders this year, at a time when the fallout from last year’s financial crisis is still being felt and the United States unemployment rate has hit 10.2 percent, a 26-1/2-year high.
In his defence, Blankfein said in the interview: “We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. It’s a virtuous cycle … We have a social purpose.”
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Then there’s concept of free will, without which, we couldn’t be judged. So he’s doing his own work, and it may overlap with God’s WILL at times.
Really, if GS were to evenly distribute his wealth to every taxpayer for the next $10 years, as someone mentioned early in these comments, WE would then be equally obligated to pass the wealth even further down the ladder to those that can’t afford to pay taxes at all (let alone food, shelter, and other basic necessities). Or we could just accept that that would be the right thing to do, and step back so that GS could skip over us and do it directly? Or we could just accept that the majority of us, presently and even after having been given a bailout, would not go on to bailout the people in real trouble, who have a much more legitimate reason to despise us as we do to despise GS, namely in the hypocrisy that is embedded in our position as the middle-men.
Would also like to reference Jan Crowder (November 8th, 2009 - 11:44 pm GMT. Excellent comment if I do say so myself.
- Posted by TAnd actually, since WE created monetary systems, I don’t see how God is even relevant to the subject, except for what Mr. Goldman Sachs stated. That leads me to believe that intent does matter, but the amount in question is irrelevant. That’s the only way I can see this particular situation.
- Posted by TNow now everybody.. don’t be bad sports. Goldman Sachs knows the business and had a plan in place like a decade or more earlier to prepare for an event such as the slump in the economy. How twisted is our logic really when we think ill of people because they have what they legitimately (if this is indeed true) earned? “Hey Goldman! Quit your job and give your money to all of us, then go make yourself scarce.” Yep, that would balance it all out. It’s like me chopping off my limbs cuz the quadriplegics are complaining.
Here’s some more food for thought on this general topic: If filthy rich people give $10 million to a charity, whereas I put in, say $100.. then who’s doing “God’s work?” Does intent even matter when the outcome is still positive?
- Posted by TI happen to know some GS traders/insiders. What do they have to say: “Is this heaven?” It wasn’t long ago they wondered if GS wasn’t going to h%$$.
- Posted by Market TimerJust read Matthew 25, and then go through and reread all of the red letter quotes in the gospels and you’ll know whether Goldman’s is doing “God’s work” or whether they are trying to be wolves in sheeps clothing! Along side that, who cares what the commentators and spin masters have to say about it!
- Posted by Michael AraujoWe’re getting a lot of comments that sound like they’ve been copied out of the pages of Mein Kampf. They go straight into the bin.
- Posted by Tom HeneghanOf course GS is doing god’s work; separating fools from their money. God does not want fools to have money.
- Posted by JohnIf they are doing “God’s Work” how come the Bible says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into God’s Kingdom!! Matt. 19:23-24
- Posted by Sue DeCasper[...] POLL: Is Goldman Sachs “doing God’s work”? Its CEO thinks so Goldman Sachs looks set to pay about $20 billion in bonuses for its top traders this year, at a time when the fallout from last year’s financial crisis is still being felt and the United States unemployment rate has hit 10.2 percent, a 26-1/2-year high. [...]
- Posted by Links 10/11/2009: Mandriva Tops Distrowatch, Oracle/Sun Blocked | Boycott NovellGive me your equities and I throw you a life jacket. This is dirty work, not God’s.
- Posted by GreeneThe nerve of some people!!!!!! The Fed should get rid of him
- Posted by Financial Centre UKThe nerve Mr. Blankfein has.This chap needs to be fired instantly.Why is the Fed sitting idle and inactive? Squandering 20 billion dollars on a bunch of speculative men/women who have utter disregard for the customer’s money is absolutely unacceptable.
This just goes to prove that history (read the credit crisis) teaches nothing to mankind.
-J Mathew
- Posted by Jobin Georgefor god all man is equal and does not have a credit rating or a wealth creating potential.
- Posted by Apurv BhargavaWhat a load of horse patootie..
Canada’s central banker is from the same club..
Lots more misery to come for the plebs!
- Posted by poopsoup