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Rolling Stone magazine may not have flashed brightly on the radar of financial PR teams before, but that has all changed with a splendid barrage against Goldman Sachs.
A 12-page article in the latest issue, entitled Great American Bubble Machine, describes Goldman as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money".
The author, Matt Taibbi offers a wonderfully cynical - or perhaps realistic - view of Wall Street's most revered bank and its role in the past century of financial booms and busts. He calls the bank a "huge, highly sophisticated engine for converting the useful, deployed wealth of society into the least useful, most wasteful and insoluble substance on earth - pure profit for rich individuals".
He adds: "Goldman positions itself in the middle of a speculative bubble, selling investments they know are crap. Then they hoover up vast sums from the middle and lower floors of society with the aid of a crippled and corrupt state that allows it to rewrite the rules in exchange for the relative pennies the bank throws at political patronage.
"Finally, when it all goes bust, leaving millions of ordinary citizens broke and starving, they begin the entire process again, riding in to rescue us all by lending us back our own money at interest, selling themselves as men above greed, just a bunch of really smart guys keeping the wheels greased."
The article details Goldman's role in bubble after bubble. It's an ugly story that Goldman's spokesman called "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories", saying he rejected "the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good."
But then a headline in the latest Business Week: "Goldman profits from the downturn. For Goldman Sachs, a slow recovery and dysfunctional bank bailout programs mean bigger profits." Hmmm.
Being a jobless executive in America just got worse. Corporate recruiters say they are ignoring the ranks of the unemployed when it comes to hiring. They want people who are still working and have survived the layoffs, as they are likely to be the top performers.
One businessman not hurting in Manhattan's crunch is British architect Lord Foster. He is reported to have spent $14 million in the past few months on next-door apartments on Fifth Avenue.
Reader views (2)
Firstly Goldman did not lend silly mortgages to anyone, secondly they warned of the impending credit crunch in November 2006. Anyone who read the Goldman CFO's comments in Nov 2006 warning about the credit situation and what he intended to do about it would have done well. Very few listened. Goldman massively slashed their balance sheet exposure from Nov 2006 throughout 2007, massively. They did not ask the government for money although they were forced to take TARP money [already repaid]. I do not work for Goldman, never have, but ignorant green eyed envy of their success epitomises the ever pervasive loser Socialist mentality out there. The Government caused this mess in the USA and the UK by allowing lax lending. This could have stopped in its track by ratcheting up capital ratios and reserve requirements for high risk category lending. Government did sweet nothing.
- James Macleod Ritchie, Oyster Bay Cove
Voters and taxpayers have far more influence power than Goldman Sachs if they choose to wield it. If we do not put pressure on Goverments to drive thru fundamental changes in the way financial sector does business, the same or worse will happen again and again.
A good start would be not letting Goverment off the hook in punishing board members and CEOs of failed banks by proving they were grossly negligent and removing them from similar or future roles.
- Jim, London
