Comments on: Goldman Sachs responds to Taibbi

By: Matthew Rittberg

Matthew Rittberg — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:03:07 +0000

Here is what I think of Goldman’s absurd bonuses, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONDZr840n kg

By: Diane Shirley

Diane Shirley — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:26:17 +0000

Van Praag’s arguments against Taibbi’s article are specious and full of finance speak. It’s no answer at all, just sputtering.

Sorry, Goldman, but the American public doesn’t have to read Taibbi’s article about you to know that you are “a vampire squid ramming its blood funnel down anything that smells like money”.

By: de1

de1 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:07:46 +0000

Personally, whenever a big corporation screams “CONSPIRACY THEORY!!” without providing irrefutable evidence to the contrary, on all points, you have to just laugh at them, and their big red hand.

The corporations and government would be in serious trouble if the masses had more keen critical thinking skills – a skill that should be mandatory curriculum all throughout grade school and college, IMHO.

By: DDC

DDC — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:23:11 +0000

p.s. Those of you who think that GS and JP Morgan are not on the inside track of ruining America and making everyone into wage slaves, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop being sheep! Watch:

The Money Masters (free video)

and

Crash Course (by Chris Martenson, also free)

I know I’m mainly preaching to the converted here, but this will help folks to realize that it’s no surprise JP Morgan, Citi, and GS are still around (while Bear, Merrill and Lehman were always fated for destruction). These videos were made WELL before last year’s crisis.

By: DDC

DDC — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:12:14 +0000

GOLDMAN PARASITES! Thank you and all the other greedy scumbags on Main St. and Wall St. for wrecking the economy. Sadly your comeuppance hurts the whole world.

Thank you gutless politicians for refusing to enforce our legal codes via the SEC.

Thank you, America, for being so intellectually and morally lazy (and overweight).

An Eagle Scout, a professor with a doctorate, I am no longer proud to be an American.

From the Far East,
DDC

By: mark Burrell

mark Burrell — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:46:34 +0000

This is a classic response from a banker. It reads like the fine print of a credit card statement. What it fails to do is explain why a bank (a public one) should be able to bet on, or more importantly against, the price of oil. What value does that add to society? It is to “hedge” against their swaps? Are you kidding me? Swaps should be illegal as well, thats what got us into this mess. Another overly complicated, unregulated instrument meant to hide assets from the balance sheet.

By: ska

ska — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:12:07 +0000

“Van Praag told me that in the wake of the events of the past year or two, Goldman’s partners have pretty much lost their appetite for going into public service.”

Does this mean they’ve stopped paying leaving employees bonuses for taking government jobs?

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/2261 7

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:25:21 +0000

Taibbi may have played fast & loose w/ some of facts but the big picture stands in respect to GS exploiting loopholes in regulation and making bets that allow it to profit whether the mkt is going up or down. Furthermore, many of the other I-banks are just as guilty of similar economic exploitation. The difference being that GS always seems to come out on top so you have to ask how does a company consistently come out on top w/o cheating or undue influence. In every other walk of life winners only sustain for awhile and eventually they return to average – just ask the NY Yankees or better yet watch the Tampa Bay Rays and see how long they sustain – they are owned by an-ex Goldman banker.

There are clearly too many GS alumni spread out across our economic institutions which if anything has to create a type of GS incestuous regulatory environment. What this article doesn’t point out is the concept of “buyer beware”. There are plenty of other smart investors in the world besides GS and clearly there are plenty of dumb ones. One has to ask why do sophisticated investors such as CALPERs or all the buyers of the CDO’s didn’t stop to ask a few pertinent questions about mortgage quality and risk. They didn’t, just as many didn’t ask why does an internet start-up a good investment. It all goes back to everyone thinking they are getting a free lunch – for CDO’s it was yields more than typical AAA bonds and for internet stocks it was astronomical price return in just a few weeks or months. GS clearly knows how to exploit that stupid greed.

By: Tom B

Tom B — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:46:02 +0000

Mr Salmon, Taibbi may have his own slanted point of view, but relying on testimony from the source of the mess is highly suspect at best. What did you think that they would say…that we’re guilty as charged, we’ve turned over a new leaf and we’ll pay restitution? In this regard, your own slanted point of view is no better.

The roads of economic ills that lead to GS are becoming so numerous and transparent that it is almost laughable to believe that any suggestion of impropriety on their part is unfounded. People have been convicted on less circumstantial evidence than what can be dug up on them.

Perhaps you should follow the compilation of “circumstantial evidence” in the “conspiracy theories”. And follow the money trail; the money NEVER lies.

http://solari.com/blog/?s=goldman+sachs

By: Gerontius

Gerontius — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:15:58 +0000

What is so “ridiculous” about Ben Stein’s conspiracy theory? Didn’t Goldman profit handsomely by betting against mortgage-backed securities it had sold only a couple of years earlier? You bet they did. And what about the $13 billion Goldman got from teetering AIG? Another fact that won’t go away.

By: Bruce Wilson

Bruce Wilson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:25:02 +0000

The Hunt brothers’ attempt to corner the world silver market, during the late 1970′s, created a massive speculative bubble.

The episode would seem to disprove the claim of Matt Taibbi’s story byline, that Goldman Sachs has engineered “every major market manipulation since the Great Depression.”

Wage and price controls also arguably have constituted a major government-sponsored manipulation of the US economy.

By: Nathan Hetzell

Nathan Hetzell — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:30:51 +0000

Did anyone read the whole article, Where’s Eliott Ness when you need him? IRS, are they not feared? Would a one percent income tax get the economy going? It works for GS.

By: D.R. Sanchez

D.R. Sanchez — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:29:12 +0000

Bailout 2008, a poem by David Jeffrey:

Like a bloodied warrior,
laying broken and torn.

Like a dying soldier, hopeless and forlorn.

But the blood, it be green,
the color of money.

And the soldier is an economy,
and it is anything but funny.

Broken are it’s people and shattered are their dreams.

Thanks to the ultra rich and their full proof schemes.

It is a tragedy with more pain to come.

Finance will be Hell, and their wills will be done.

By: heavysole

heavysole — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:53:46 +0000

Goldman Sachs should do the world a favor and die.

By: Bob Berke

Bob Berke — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:41:09 +0000

It’s interesting that no one talks about the predictions for the next bubble referred to in the article: carbon credit trades. Nor that GS has investments in the largest carbon credit exchanges (as do almost all of the major investment banking houses, here and in Europe). Whether bubble blowers or not, GS is very good at spoting trends. It might be wise to take a tip from the best. By the way, Al Gore’s company, only a few days ago, tried to buy out a major carbon exchange company, that refused to sell out. Gore’s company raised its stake in the exchange from 14% to 19%.