Tweet
We are continuing to follow the Senate Hearing on Goldman Sachs. Earlier posts on the hearing are here and here.
One of the rhetorical tactics Goldman Sachs has used to answer the SEC complaint that it misled investors on the Abacus deals has been to argue that it had held a "positive" position holding the Abacus securities whose structuring it allegedly misrepresented.
In other words, Goldman is arguing that since it was itself heavily invested in the Abacus synthetic CDO, and in fact lost money by holding that position, it is not credible to claim it deliberately created an investment it wanted to fail. Why would it deliberately structure a deal to lose its own money?
But in questions from Senator Levin at today’s hearing, Goldman’s VP Tourre, the lone person in the SEC complaint, admitted that the only reason Goldman held that positive position is that it had wanted to lay off that positive position but was unable to sell it; it was thus stuck with the positive position and lost money on it.
This was, I believe, the first public concession from a Goldman employee about something smart financial bloggers (was it Rortybomb?) figured out over a week ago. But Goldman had continued to repeat the line that they couldn’t be accused of structuring an investment designed to fail because they invested in it themselves and lost money. Now we have a Goldman VP testifying under oath that the argument Goldman has been making was just baloney.
Making Lemonade out of Lemons
As the video from another part of the hearing shows, Levin also used another Goldman witness to read Goldman e-mails into the record. Several e-mails suggest that Goldman’s desire to create synthetic CDOs for the purpose of betting against them was the general Goldman strategy during 2007, the period that included the Abacus and several other such deals. As one Goldman e-mail described what the Goldman CDO makers were doing:
"They structured like mad, traveled the world, and worked their tails off, to make some lemonade out of some big ole lemons."
In the second session, which includes Goldman’s CFO Viniar, Levin continues to push the theme of Goldman moving, from late 2006 on, towards a net "short" position against the market for mortgage-based securities, including the syn-CDOs Goldman was structuring and marketing.
Levin: Was your risk biased, to be short?
Viniar: Yes it was.
That point alone is not controversial. What Levin and other Committee members are exploring is the extent to which Goldman was structuring investments for the purpose of facilitating its strategic decision to begin shorting the market as a means to offset its large positive position in mortgage-based securities, and whether it misled investors to enable that strategy.
Udpate: About 4:25 Eastern: During questioning in second session, responding to Levin, Goldman’s CFO Viniar appears to say that he has no problem with Goldman taking a short position against structured products Goldman is marketing to its customers. But he’d prefer Goldman didn’t leave e-mails around saying that! Oops.
334 Comments
It sounds like Coburn is really peeved about the notion that risk management didn’t take advantage of the information inside GS about the Bear Stearns trades.
I just stopped streaming it when Coburn was asking. What point is he trying to get to?
I’m impressed with the homework that Coburn, and clearly other Senators, have done to prep for this hearing.
I’m with you in noting ‘kudos to committee staff’.
Both GOP and Dem senators seem remarkably well prepared, and it suggests to me that GS is up against bigger guns than they expected.
I really have a big problem with GS participating in their own bets.
GS’s strategy for the entire ABACUS series was to create vehicles for shorting.
Agree. these question require a lot of homework and an effort to understand what you’re reading.
Yeah, interesting. What should we think when they are singularly unprepared for other hearings? Shouldn’t we expect this level of preparedness for all hearings?
I’m confused. Isn’t GS’ crime really just insider trading writ large?
I mean if they are “creating markets” and that’s their product that they produce, and they know what’s good and what’s bad and what the stock will do, isn’t that some kind of insider trading in concept?
Coburn wants to know how is it that GS got 100 % back on its CDS with AIG? Was there a negotiation with the Feds/Treasury?
Viniar: No.
This AIG stuff isn’t likely to produce much. The real question here is how did GS present these deals to AIG; why did AIG buy them?
Kaufman’s questions at first were good.
Umm, maybe something like Dylan Ratigan reports that GS lost approx. $1.2bn on their gambling; HOWEVER they were insured for, and received payout for, $12.9bn!
Wow. Viniar claims he didn’t know anything about how the credit rating firms rated investments offered by Goldman. How could he do his job?
The questions about shorts were good. This is a topic that deserves some further thought.
The large payout number was not for that particular Abacus structure. Goldman has claimed, and no one has disputed that I’ve seen, that it lost money on that specific deal. It’s not disputing that it made money overall as a result of all of its short positions more than offsetting the losses on other investments.
One would think. Apparently it’s no longer considered necessary. We’re going to have to start testing candidates for office. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman can be the poster girls for educated officials. Who should be the poster boys?
Thank you for clarifying. I should read more than write!
Where do you think Kaufman was heading with those questions? is there a difference in disclosure or transparency if you sell vs if you hedge?
He denies knowledge of the models of rating agencies: the New York Times’ Gretchen Morgenson reported last Friday one of the ratings guys went to work for GS:
Yeah, but who did that guy work for? The boys making the structured deals? Or the Risk Manager? Or the CFO?
Since he helped “structure the deals,” I suspect he was working for the boys we saw in the first panel. I just don’t understand how the CFO could not have some working knowledge of this.
Wow….wow shouldn’t have been said on email….HA.
Oops, I missed that remark/Q by Levin. Explain?
Will have to catch up on comments shortly but had to race to the computer to make a note: Tipping Point!
Goldman Exec, about the ‘shitty deals’: “I think it’s unfortunate [that GS employees] that in email… (but I don’t, personally, see anything wrong with shorting our clients or selling them shit).”
Correct. That’s called ‘leverage’. If I’ve purchased fire insurance on your house, then I get the full amount when it burns down.
How it burned down, I have no idea… (/s)
Yes, Fatal testimony.
I’m thinking that shorting CDOs is done with credit default swaps. When you sell, there is a price signal. When you short with the non-disclosed CDS, there is no price signal.
I flatly agree. That sounded to me like an outright lie.
If a security is sold on an exchange, its price could be transparent, depending on the rules; but if it’s done bilaterally, as I believe all of these were, there would be no disclosure to the market — which is why traders prefer non-exchange bilateral trading.
What’s the difference between Goldman-Sachs and Bernie Madoff?
As I recall it, and I am fairly sure that Jon Stewart and others will grab that video segment, basically Levin asked whether ?Vigner? thought there was anything wrong about shorting your own customers? anything wrong about knowingly selling ‘shitty deals’ AND THEN ALSO shorting the poor saps who bought that ‘shit’.
The guy basically said, “No. That’s market activity. But they shouldn’t have put that in email, I guess.”
In other words, there’s no problem with it.
But anything that could be used as evidence of our amoral ‘market behavior’ is a problem.
Levin had asked whether the guy had any **feelings** about what happened.
Shorter Levin: “Got feelings? Got empathy?”
Goldman Exec: “Huh? What’s your point? Your question does not compute.”
Coburn asks Goldman’s risk manager what convinced the firm that the housing/mortgage market was going south; what induced them to go short?
Broderick: When we started seen “profit volatility” it convince us we didn’t understand what was happening in the market, so we had to reduce risks.
Bernie’s in jail.
That sounds right.
Ain’t that the truth.
Thanks. I tuned back just in time to hear the, uh, murmur in the audience, and that explains it.
Coburn with that Fannie Mae Crap, and Viniar won’t answer that is the real problem.
i believe they started seeing defaults in 06,thats when they knew the jig was up
Blankfeins in the audience…shouldnt they separate the crooks at testimony?
I think the only reform we’ll see is GS Email Reform.
“No one I know got hurt.”
Big Bad Blankfein up at bat.
Does anyone know what the timeline of these hearings is? Does the committee have the time to follow this thing wherever it goes? I have a big problem with artifical timelines in a context like this.
Maybe they shook them down for contraband (i.e. shanks, etc.) before allowing them into the hearing room. Fistfights could always break out, however. Now there’s some quality TV…
he looks like a little squirt
Oh great Viniar giving a do over on his answer to Levin on the “Should GS be selling shitty products and associating their name with them?” Question. (Guess the outburst in the crowd to it clued him into how bad it really was)
Apparently the Lawyers quickly got to him and told him how much of a pr nightmare they had on their hands when Viniar basically said, Yeah GS sells shitty products to it’s customers/clients.
Headline: GS, we sell shitty junk products to clients/customer (just as long as it’s not in an internal staff email or spoken outloud).
For the backstory, Viniar hemmed and hawed when Levin point blank asked him if GS should be selling shitty products to clients/customers. He wouldn’t answer it at all. Then when pressed said well… just as long as it’s not in an email …and then quickly added… or spoken out loud. Crowd roars.
Yeah, Viniar is clarifying his answer alright (speaking the truth initially was painful)…what.a.douche.
Levin calls him on it again now and says, Yeah I would have thought when I asked you if you should be endorsing and putting your name on shitty products you would have been appalled that GS was selling shitty products to it’s clients. But no…not Viniar.
Now I see Levin harping on the GS claim the customer always comes first…Levin now just pointed out how it’s clear (by the emails and the shitty products) that GS comes first…so much for truth in advertising.
Blankfein up now…more fireworks.
Last panel: Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO. Begins 5:15 Eastern.
Coburn brings up Glass/Steagall and Volcker!
is my steaming slow?
Oh, yeah – Goldman Sachs = philanthropists all
who does dipshit Blankfein think pensioners are? in my book they are taxpayers…this guy is pathetic!
hahahahahahahahahahahafell backwards off my chair
Blankfein up now
“we are one hell of great bunch of guys.”
“we loves us some kittens.”
“do you want to thank me now or later?”
All these witnesses are thinking, “One day of being sweated on TV is worth all the cash we were able to take down..” Which is why there should and must be consequences beyond these (admittedly entertaining) hearings.
I think I want a Sarbanes Oxley just for Wall Street firms and banks…
all good detectives separate the perps to get differing stories
Yup…they’ll set up a whole new shadow email system. I’m thinking Karl Rove will let them use his old RNC web servers he successfully used when in the WH….for a political donation to the republican party of course.
Don’t they almost ALWAYS look like little squirts?
Little squirts squeeezing GS lemons?
Levin comes out swingin
They’ve probably already got it. The committee should get a printing press just to crank out subpoenas.
they look TALLER standing atop all their money…lol
standing atop all their money and bullshit…
The funny thing about that is that every Wall St. firm once/year goes over with every employee what they should & shouldn’t put into emails. (Short version: everything you don’t want to last forever that you or the firm would be embarrassed by if it were read in public.) It’s part of the annual ‘compliance’ meeting that goes over all behaviors that might come into conflict with laws, etc. Seems that the email part just doesn’t stick. Seems like the medium overpowers common sense. Not that we haven’t seen the same behavior in comments here. *g*
Hey, a pygmy is still a pygmy,even standing atop the Empire State buliding.
Not fooling anybody!
NOTE: Apologies to pygmies in general for comparison to GS Spinocchios.
Notice how UNcommon that common sense has become?
Levin is making a speech: better to ask yes no questions for a while.
It’s that whole Napolean thing….
Does anyone know where Goldman Sachs will be taking the Senate committee members for dinner tonight?
hehehehehehehehhe
small in dignity,and principal
Almost all the rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are named after Wall St. biggies.
The little shit is tapdancing and not answering the question. Levin should come back with a “yes or no.” Why allow this bullshit yammering?
After Blankfein opening statement, Levin summarizes the points he’s been making all day: in structured deal after structured deal, Goldman was marketing mortgage-based syn-CDOs and other structure investments while it was implementing a policy from the top execs within the firm to go short, which told the traders to short the same investments Goldman was structuring. E-mails from GS employees describe these deals as “shitty,” crap, lemons — but it never said that to its customers.
And it believed these securities were very likely to go bad, because it knew that the subprime mortgages on which the underlying bonds were based were not only at serious risk of failing but were in fact based on fraudulent lending practices and delusion ratings.
What say you Lloyd?
Blankfein: we’re just market makers; we are the other side of what our clients want.
Agree. Lose the grandstanding and “yes or no” this deal.
They allow the yammering because in the final analysis they are on the same team.
In the dot-com bubble aftermath, the only two Wall St. analysts who got jailed were the two guys who got hoist on their own emails. The woman (Morgan Stanley, I think, can’t remember names anymore) who put nothing in email, got away scott free. So it’s not as if consequences aren’t obvious.
how long until some tight-ass R’s air out complaints against levin for coarse language, or attempt to talking-point the hearing solely as an example of a senator ‘lowering the discourse and stature’ of the almighty US Senate?
Levin: sell, and then turn around and bet against it, no conflict, says Blankfein.
Because he is the CEO – they will defer more to him than to any who came before…I hope I am wrong.
Blankfein is lying…they could go to the open market…not expensivo GS
blankfein says “NO. We don’t care. Our clients don’t care.”
GS selling securities?
I say they were marketing INsecurities.
he is deluded
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that is pure ego, not philanthropy.
Now, if their names were on new school libraries….
If tone of voice is anything….Blankfein has his angry combative voice going…and he is filibustering huge……
why pay GSs outrageous prices…..The pensioners didnt want this crap
I think he’s giving him some rope…Levin et al got down to yes/no eventually with the Four Horsemen.
Are you kidding? They own the people asking the questions. It’s theater.
he sound like a squeaking mouse
Blankfein:
“not my fault that a bunch of dumb-ass investors lost everything.”
“Not. My. Problem.”
Natch. They’re both working the “run out the clock” program.
Does this surprise you that it was a FEMALE who didn’t have her head up her butt ,and use common sense?
What would Wall Street Do?
Blankfein should be careful not to answer any questions under oath with,”We were doing God’s work.”
These people are financial terrorists. But they are our financial terrorists, so they must be doing God’s work.
How does B feel about fact his employees thought these structured deals were crappy?
B: Uh, there are lots of opinions.
Blankfein …dump the shitty on the poor pentioners or people in Greece
Yep. How dare you question the way we do deals?
You’ll get no argument from me on the ego content of ‘naming’ opportunities at the Met.
They should be leaning on him harder because he’s the CEO.
Has anyone asked these GS pirates if they invested personally in any of these tainted instruments?
There ya go. Levin: yes or no.
the truth is evident. the lies, the greed. but is this just going to be another Looking Forward Moment? Really, if you can lie >4.3K service people, >100K innocent civilians to death, violate 800 year-old justice precedents, and dissolve a 230 year-old visionary document of democracy and freedom, but still be ignored, what really can we expect after this exciting hearing?
My head tells me it’s kabuki but my heart sees something a little fiercer today…I know nothing will come of this but my heart always holds a glimmer of hope.
they shorted,went the opposite way
Good question.
c’mon eCahn. You know they HAVE to make those donations to keep up with everybody else.
thats how they made the money ,by betting against the clients
short? long? buying? selling?
This is starting to sound like “Who’s on First” abbott/costello stuff.
The incapacity of Blankfein to really comprehend and answer Levin’s question, which connotes socially acceptable conduct, is breathtaking.
I can’t wait to talk to my psych contact; here we have a man who seems incapable of the emotions that every schoolkid uses to know ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. Stupifying to really see this happen.
Well, of course not. Otherwise I wouldn’t have revealed the gender. I, a female, took it to heart when I worked on Wall St. And have tried to ever after. But it’s tough to keep yourself from typing something on the spur of the moment, remembering it will last forever. In the will contest against me(the standard soap opera), I almost got pinned by a post-it I had put on an estate tax form draft, to remember to ask my lawyer a Q, that was sarcastically worded, and that my opponents found during discovery.
Thanks, I have been unable to watch continuosly.
I seriously doubted they WOULD, however getting them to admit it on record, can have real value.
Blankfein sticking to his guns.
trouble is, he hasn’t noticed that the barrels have curled back around toward his own head.
An Academy award performance but it’s nothing more than performance. In the U.S. no one is accountable except for the working and middle class and the poor.
Someone should say then if people want these products, why don’t they say that to the clients when they market it.
Here here, come buy get your shitty, junk crap when they market it to clients?
that is how he became KING OF THE THIEVES or CEO
I understand that. The question would be good rhetorically, just to get it on the record that no one inside the firm got on the losing side of the transaction because they knew it was dogshit.
I should have attached the snark tag.
haha levin calling him on the serving the client crap.
clients aren’t coming to you, you’re selling this stuff! you’re picking up the phone.
pushing crap. heh.
yes…real pirates
It’s merely PR. Aren’t the rich special people. So giving, so responsible. Nobless oblige.
Yeah, it’s as if this guy can ask any technical question you throw his way.
But with respect to ‘emotions’, something’s missing.
If this is true, Blankfein honestly doesn’t have the emotions to determine ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. Is that possible? Is this actually what we are seeing here…?
If I put down a sucker bet of $100, then hedge the risk that I’ll lose that bet by buying cheaply instruments that will pay out $1000 if I do, and then collect $1000, I’d say that’s a win and was intended to be all along.
It’s the net exposure that counts, not just the part of a many-faceted transaction that makes it look like GS has skin in the game, as anyone who worked there would know.
You insult dogshit.
yea
I know. I just wanted to expand the point. *g*
DONT BUY IPOs FROM GS…bLANKFEIN HAS YOU ON NOTICE
This dude is blinking a LOT….
707……>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>hehehehehhehee
What happens after today. Does the committee generate a report that subsequently gets dumped into a filing cabinet somewhere?
He needs a blindfold and a last cigarette.
Market maker,my ass.
Market breaker is more like it.
Oh, I know. I was being tongue in cheek. It really chaps my britches when I hear how much more charity Rs participate in. YOu know, like Babs Bush “giving” to her son’s “education” nonprofit. *spit*
and now the non-maverick.
I once had a conversation with a salesman on just this subject. He argued it was his job to sell whatever the firm wanted him to. I argued that was not in the best interest of either him or the firm to sell crap to clients. We talked past each other for about 10 minutes after which I decided to look out the window for the remainder of the car trip.
I dunno. I’m living for today.
The arrogance these assholes display is stunning; they act like they are dealing with stupid customers and not Senators.
Blankfein is still trying to claim a market maker defense, when they have taken a position solidly against clientele without disclosure, while pushing “a shitty deal” or “lemons”. Amazing.
And Blankfein has now twice compared what he was doing to selling a tangible product like stock or a vested interest in a coal company, when what they were selling was not a tangible product in any way since there was no solid secured interest underpinned by collateral.
What a crock. It’s just a casino and Goldman Sachs owned the tables and bet on them.
he only talks to the big donors.
I’m wondering whether it’s scarier than that.
He is quite likely ‘technically’ brilliant.
But watch young children; if they see that they have hurt someone else, they feel badly.
The way that I see Levin, he’s asking Blankfein: “Don’t you have unpleasant feelings when you hurt someone?”
Blankfein doesn’t appear to even comprehend what Levin is asking.
(as in: “what are these feelings you speak of?”)
I’m not a shrink and I am not an authority, but **if** Blankfein doesn’t understand what Levin is asking, then Blankfein is a very damaged human being. I hope that I am wrong.
I’ve seen this before; people can be very ‘smart’, but without feelings, I don’t see how they have a conscience. They must think the rest of us are talking a foreign language.
I hope that I am wrong in my surmise.
ALL GREEK TO THEM
Exactly what is the difference?
Probably wise policy. I run in the ditch when I get ahead of myself…
Well played.
I think the term is sociopath…….
I don’t really fault the salespeople. They live to earn commissions. It’s the company that didn’t hang onto the crap they were selling that I hold responsible. If they weren’t keeping the deal, it is a bad deal.
Textbook psychopath.
Sociopath.
HAHA!!! The blinking and all the “ummmmmmmm”s usually mean he is not being truthful.
I have no idea what the weird squinting thing is, though….
yup
He’s drawing a blank, and feels just fine about it.
(Forgive me,I could not resist.)
It’s either one or the other.
its the same thing,same symptoms
I think it’s pretty accurate. These people measure themselves and others by their bank accounts and possessions. It’s in their DNA. They are simply unaware of anything else, including their own kids.
I’ve seen this before; people can be very ’smart’, but without feelings, I don’t see how they have a conscience. They must think the rest of us are talking a foreign language.
That these people are exactly like that is how I would bet…if you’ll pardon the expression.
doffs hat
Ding!
I further argued that it’s the salesman’s job to report back to the chain of command when a deal is bad, so that the firm learns and doesn’t do it again. Of course, the culture doesn’t allow for that.
jeez, blankfein sorta smiling when describing loans going bad. then looks serious when “sharing concern”. weird.
Here it comes! Yes, we helped by buying more rooms at the Met!!!
Yeah, it’s as if everybody in the financial industry working in investment banking is either Asperger’s and challenged with recognizing social cues, or sociopathic and unable to give a rat’s behind about societal norms.
I’m thinking of Vanity Fair’s piece, Betting on the Blind Side, about hedge fund manager Mark Burry. Burry is Asperger’s, and was considered a model hedge fund manager in the industry. (I also noted that the words bet or betting were used 27 or so times in that article…and Burry himself seemed to think what he did was betting on the downside of the market.)
pond scum
Blankfein – “we are a philanthropic organization.”
un-fucking-believable.
Rayne, that was my first thought – Aspergers………..
Don’t get to be a Cardinal by criticizing the Pope. Try to tell the Brass what’s happening on the ground and see how fast you end up in Siberia.
GS delivered a billion dollars to small business in ’09. 1/10 of what it got from U.S. taxpayers.
The Q about the bailout is not whether they paid it back with interest, but what would have happened to GS if they’d not gotten it in the first place.
See comment #69
to themselves.charity begins at home
I know you mean to be snarky by that, but our Senators are our representatives — and Carl Levin is specifically my representative. He’s not there for his health, but to investigate GS.
No Senator should technically be a client of GS in a direct fashion, only their blind investments might be, and then probably not GS directly but some other investment firm.
I heard that Native Americans considered any man who thought only with his head and not with his heart to be crazy or insane.
underwater with all the sub prime mortgages…too bad it didnt happen
Well, FT Alphaville’s title on this panel appears to be: A Dead Banker Talking… “That’s Lloyd Blankfein…”
Then again, Alphaville calls these the Senate witch trials.
I tend to differ in my assessment.
I sense the world turned slightly on its axis today.
Even McCain is comprehending that a CDO is a fiction that is used as a basis for bets.
Now, will McCain comprehend that CDOs have zip socially useful utility in the real economy?
Jeebus. McGrampy said “aBACus.”
So ask, does Blankfein think blowing up the world economy is one of those philanthropical things GS does that is good for the capital markets?
Not-a-maverick is harping on betting. GS it is different than gambling on a sports game because only the bettor loses money and not the US taxpayer.
Probably thinking of Max aBACus
fruit cup time.
It’s not just that the super sophisticated Goldman hedged its own positions. They would and should do that as a matter of course. It’s the reality of how they hedged and the weighting of it that suggests wrongful conduct. The elephant in the Congressional living room, though, is that transactions of such gargantuan size remained invisible and unregulated, and largely untaxed.
Obvious questions for GS would include were their hedges bought from companies with the assets to pay them off under a wide variety of scenarios, not just rosy ones? Were GS’s public positions so hedged against in private that it stood to make far more money when the products it sold dropped in value than if they went up? If so, that suggests knowledge by GS that they would and that they intended they would – and that may be a crime if GS lied or failed to disclose material information to its investors.
Those simple questions are enough to make clear what GS and both political parties and this White House are trying to hide: the government intentionally allowed a mega-sized shadow banking system to develop that was completely hidden. Its risk were completely hidden, too, except when the players lost and wanted to be rescued by the public purse, as if they were cartoon turtles asking Mr. Wizard to say, “Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle drone, time for this one to come home.”
Obviously, the price these gamblers should pay for being bailed out includes not simply forced management changes and punitive caps on certain kinds of income. The gambles they make should become public and be publicly accountable. And hedge fund managers should pay standard income tax rates on their winnings, not 15%, which they do now and which is less than the standard sales (VAT) tax in Europe.
I hear Brooksley Born may be willing to head an agency that oversees that. Let’s see if that’s where Levin really wants to take these hearings, because he should.
McCain seems befuddled. (Just thought I’d state the obvious.)
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish caught will we realize we cannot eat money.”
~ Cree Indian Proverb
Is McCain sick?
Wow, shoves a question back into Not-a-maverick’s face regarding rating agencies and hedge fund involvement with Gs not being mentioned. Wow Blankfein’s arrogance is limitless.
McSFB is one confused old white dude.
lol
sad
He picked Palin, didn’t he? (Sorry. Couldn’t resist. heh..)
the FALL of glass steagall…ratfukkkkker
Yes, it is weird.
And creepy.
Yeah, well, he is King of the World. McCain is not. :)
GS made profits ‘reluctantly.’
Yeah, a very wise recognition.
I am heartened that all the Dem senators, and even most of the GOPers, seem to really be almost astonished at what they’ve seen today. Because they have feelings about it.
I’ll say round one of Gawd’s Work v. Not-a-Maverick went to a combative Gawd’s Work when he shut down maverick in one quick shot.
Those simple questions are enough to make clear what GS and both political parties and this White House are trying to hide: the government intentionally allowed a mega-sized shadow banking system to develop that was completely hidden. Its risk were completely hidden, too, except when the players lost and wanted to be rescued by the public purse, as if they were cartoon turtles asking Mr. Wizard to say, “Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle drone, time for this one to come home.
——————-
pretty much sums it up
Could be true, or at least not false, but one ought to inquire who Mr. Blankfein considers a beneficiary of his eleemosynary work.
shucks,it was Gods work
Yeah, I absolutely loved that article.
When I screw up, you go bankrupt
The way GS played AIG against itself and the taxpayers … I want an investment program that gives me exponential returns with the commensurate risks dumped on others if the bet fails to go in my favor. As for the original borrowers and investors in America’s real estate economy, they were useful tools in creating the grist for this derivative mill — nothing more. NINJA loans made primarily by non-bank mortgage originators on Wall Street accomplished exactly what they were designed for.
And except for some inadvised email trails, all of this was and is perfectly legal. Notice — not one of these people or firms has been indicted criminally. Paying fines for civil damages is a breeze when the government is underwriting all of your operational risks. Something you joke about over dinner at Lutece*.
This is what happened when B of A “rescued” Countrywide, which later was fined $6.8 billion for predatory lending. I’ll give you one guess as to who paid that settlement, and it wasn’t the executives of either corporation — if you pay federal taxes, it was you.
*Google says Lutece closed the day after Valentine’s Day in 2004. I’m sure the Gods of High Finance have found another five star restaurant to spend their bonuses since then.
Glass Steagall wasn’t too big to fall.
Per Se.
nice!
I tried to find the one I was thinking of. Came up…short.
Chuckle, chuckle: the FT header on the front page is now: “Goldman’s Woes Mount in Senate Grilling”.
(giggle, giggle…)
Although they have Tourre’s photo with the header, and frankly I thought he was more upfront than any of the other GS witnesses. Including Blankfein.
it just gave crystal meth to the Banksters
Being corrupt and being illegal are not synonymous. Competent regulation can rein in both. These systemic, collectively gargantuan transactions were intentionally hidden from public and governmental view – so that the GS’s of the world could make money, regardless of the risks incurred in doing so. Now that we have an inkling, an inkling only, of the costs of those risks, perhaps voters could insist that their government try a different tack.
It’s called “reducing risk”.
I’m learning so much today. /s
McCain’s courting the AZ tea partiers for his re-election campaign in the fall. He wants the Anti-Pecora Commission to be named after him.
I’ll say it again. Selling mortgage loans is a bad idea and unfair to consumers. It cuts off the ability to negotiate or whatever in the future.
Other than making Blankfein look like an asshole, and he doesn’t care, as that too shall pass, they aren’t laying a finger on him.
Kaufman’s making a brilliant point, and it took holding those WaMu hearings before this GS hearing.
Kaufman just laid a trap, Blankfein walked straight into it.
And Blankfein still doesn’t get it.
Wow….!
I agree I thought Tourre was the most upfront and concise in his answers. (although at times he hedged and filibustered and even sounded like he had some GS lawyer fed talking points in him) He admitted that he had met with GS lawyers and that he will be defended by GS lawyers in his lawsuit.
yet
Here’s a couple of knockout articles.The second link has extensive info on Abacus,btw:
More About AIG’s Bad Paper and the Banks That Took It — Seeking AlphaFeb 23, 2010 … in CDOs that AIG insured — more than any other investment bank. … are in charge of the military and the police – in their pockets. …
seekingalpha.com/…/190132-more-about-aig-s-bad-paper-and-the-banks-that-took-it – Cached
CNews World: Richard (RJ) Eskow: There’s a New AIG Story. I Was an …Apr 19, 2010 … It turns out that AIG insured seven Abacus deals, and the debts they …. cnewsworld.co.cc/…/richard-rj-eskow-theres-a-new-aig-story-i-was-an-aig-exec-heres-the-deal/ – Cached
Yes, that was a good exchange. Got Blankfein sputtering. (Would be nice theater if someone wiped the spit off his microphone.)
they kept doing it,cause they knew the government was going to bail them out
Good grief, after several witnesses from GS conceded that GS decided to go short the housing/mortgage-based securities market, Blankfein is now denying that the firm ever made that decision.
The NYT reported over a week ago that this decision was made at the highest exec levels in Decm 2006; today’s witnesses basically explained how they implemented and understood that direction. Blankfein can’t answer a simple question: when did you make that decision.
Sadlyyesornovich !
yup he took the stoopit pill today
PETRONYOVINSKI!
The Death of Irony, now showing at the Senate Kabuki Theatre
P.S. to #191 — And after these non-bank speculators took down the entire financial system, they applied for & were granted over night bank holding corporation status enabling them direct access to the Fed window.
Then there was and still is the common practice of regulatory shopping compounded by this revolving door between executive branch, congress & the financial industry itself.
Blankfein: Headline: We’re not that Smart.
Now he’s saying they were not quite that bright…which way is it, that they were just being smart risk managers selling sophisticated financial operations to sophisticated investors or …they’re not that smart.I guess Blankfein defense all depends on the question.
HAD TO BE IN 2006………AND they musta seen the mortgage defaults
its all GREEK TO ME…sorry poor Greece
The whole ponzi-like scheme depended on the ratings agencies giving AAA ratings to a substantial portion of the structured securities created from 2006 on, even though they knew that these were mostly subprime, some fraudulent, many with no credit checks, etc — the whole industry must have know the structure was based on fraud and risk — and yet the big boys continued to market this stuff even though it was junk — and here’s Blankfein saying, “nobody knew what would happen.”
After watching the GS CEO, here’s the question I’d ask all those “geniuses” up on the dias.
“Can you tell me if the values of homes will go up between now and next September?”
“How much?”
“Can you tell me that the values of homes will not go down by next March?”
Even today, not one of these people could predict what is going to happen in housing market, yet they are expecting people to have predicted what was coming.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Wall Street stance:
Caveat emptor: The axiom or principle in commerce that the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying.
My bold.
TBTF
They were not motivated by what was right or wrong,legal or illegal-it’s what they KNEW they would and COULD get away with.
It still is,too.
Exactly.
It’s simple: you’re watching a pure sociopath in operation. Complete lack of empathy. Totally unable to relate to feelings or emotions except his own.
bs…..BOA will foreclose on 45,000 homes per month….you bullish?
It’s the two party system myth, Earl.
When the kabuki financial reform deal is cut by these hacks, make sure you’re standing as far away from the knife as possible
Please.Do.Not.Feed.
you’re watching a pure sociopath in operation.
Hannibal Lecter ain’t got nothin’ on this guy…
ok,you are right as usual
he doesnt lisp
even if they cock it around a bit…you cant recognize the real deal
Corker going on to the bank holding company switch on Sept 21, 2008. Blankfein says um. yeah, considered to changing earlier…discussed at board meetings and should be on the record (wants copy). Asking Gawd’s Work do they want to be investment bank again?..Gawd’s Work answers, not sure how realistic that will be? Greater diversity of funding and liquidity as bank holding company. Gawd’s work doesn’t know if that is the reason why they went that way. Corker ask, Prior to that time did they ever have temporary access to the window…Gawd’s Work…um,um, not sure..um..). He likes the new status. (yeah the taxpayers are backstopping all their bets, what’s not to like there???)
Hey, the PR spin program is already on track. Just saw a CNBC promo that Lloyd will be speaking exclusively with David Faber later today. I guess we can consider that a sports broadcast, part of the Wall Street slo-pitch softball league.
Lessons from Japan’s bubble — for ours – MSN MoneyMay 9, 2005 … A key point I’ve been aware of — but embarrassingly slow to really comprehend — has been the fact that the big bubble in Japan occurred in …
moneycentral.msn.com/content/P116564.asp – Cached – Similar
I agree with Scarecrow and readerOfTeaLeaves, the whole thing unravels starting with the rating agencies. All aspiring muckrackers ought to look into it.
Those knee pads will come in handy for Faber.
See, you think you know a lot, but it could easily go another way. In other words, you can find experts, real experts, who would argue it’s going down, and experts who would argue it’s going up.
And, aside from that, you don’t really know HOW much down it might go–even if you think it will go down.
Any ass that gets down on someone because they could not have predicted some future event, is just that.
If you can’t predict it now, you can’t have predicted it then.
Anyone looking back can “see” it all. Why couldn’t Clinton have predicted that the NASDAQ was going to tank in the last year of his Presidency?
Some people thought it might happen, some didn’t.
That’s an important part, but begs the issue if the rating agencies haven’t been complicit whether the could have found another way of getting around the constraints.
OK, then you tell me, is the stock market going to go up in the next 4 months?? If yes, how much?
You can guess, you can make a very educated guess and analysis, but you can’t predict it. Right now, you could make a case for either way.
But, 4 months from now, you can look back and say, “Oh, it was obvious which way it was going to go.”
LOL … next that twerp, who wants us to accept blame for all bad things on Earth, is gonna show up.
All of that will greatly exacerbate the next-time-down scenario.
MSN Money, May,2005
invest Frito Lay…cheetos galore
Corporate Profile
PepsiCo offers the world’s largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 18 different product lines that each generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade – also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in over 200 countries. With more than $43 billion in 2008 revenues, PepsiCo em…
Well, I don’t see a ‘pure’ sociopath able to remain in an organization like GS for so many years and move up. So ‘pure’ may be a term too far.
Also, I’m in no way qualified to make such a determination about whether Blankfein is, is not, or is ‘partly’ incapable of experiencing emotions.
But I am deeply disturbed watching his responses for this period of time, and I think the committee was very, very smart to have him testify separately.
He’s very smart, but his ‘blindness’ to the implications of Levin’s questions, and Kaufman’s questions, and even Coburn’s questions, are very striking.
It explains a lot about why and how these people were not capable of policing themselves, and how the ‘criminogenic’ environment William Black has described was able to flourish.
These are the last people on earth who should be trusted with mega-organizations, let alone ‘leverage’.
This hearing has botched up my schedule completely today, but wow… it has been very eye-opening.
I don’t see how the Senate can even conceivably get away with Potemkin reform after this — not when even the FT is reporting that this went terribly for GS.
These guys hold so much sway it’s uncanny. They twist our PM’s arm with the mere mention of a downgrade. Imagine what it would mean if people had to confront the fact that they’re in on it. Which they are, apparently.
In the town of Bedrock, it’s a page right out of his-tor-yyy
This was not a bad result like an asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago. (Yes, that was a really bad outcome.)
The plan was designed to reap exponential profits, by shifting risk and losses to other parties — rape, pillage & burn — then claim they were the victims of unforseen events, the system had to be rescued.
The solution? TBTF, where Wall Street saved itself at the expense of the system.
Obama’s PR machine will use these hearings to either 1) push McConnell & Co. drop their filibuster and come to the table, or 2) cut their own throats by opposing the only thing average American’s will get out of this televised testimony — this rip off will not stop without a Glass-Steagal bill for the 21st Century — and Republicans will blow any chance of picking up seats in the Senate.
which reminds me, why isn’t Sandy Weil behind bars?
Well, like I say, it all looks easy in hindsight, but at the time, MSN could have been wrong. I know lots of people who predicted back last fall that the stock market had gone up too fast and was likely to crash back down again.
Had it happened, they too would have looked like oracles. But, it didn’t. Only in hind sight does a future event look inevitable.
Thanks for proving my point.
great question
rotl, if you catch up to wavpeac or one of the other Psych Titans, please direct this question to them – how they evaluate Lord Blankfein, from the video.
OK, Coburn needs to lose the condescending grandstanding shit and get back on point. Seems he’s implicitly affirming the notion that Goldman is much too complicated for lowly regulators to understand. I don’t accept that premise for one second.
too dumb to fail eh?
paging Dr.KatKilla
in a nutshell….they COULDNT LOSE
Coburn is asking why some emails were released and not others? He should be issuing subpoenas for all correspondence not yet rendered to the committee.
I really have to hand it to Tom Coburn for going after the question of the way that GS is throwing Tourre under the bus. Coburn has raised this repeatedly, and I think he’s got a very good point: why are you hanging this young employee out to dry? Do you think it’s going to save your own ass to dump all this conduct on this one young guy?
I gotta say I’m with Coburn on this one: why are you humiliating this guy?
WOW … Coburn continues to surprise !
“Why did GS only release Fab Squared’s e-mails to the Committee and no one else’s ? Was it a political ploy ? Was it fair to your employee ?”
they were watching too much pornography to do their jobs
McCaskill up…good question by Coburn on the Toure emails. I did not realize they had done that.
With all due respect, it does not take Nostradamus to predict that the repeal of Glass Stegall-with the attendant shadow banking system and its dark liquidity ,did not bode well for the denizens of Main Street.
Cuz he’s French ?!!
Yeah, due diligence wasn’t gonna get any buyer very far with this crap.
It’s a fair point asking this question, but his line of questioning smells to me in the sense that he’s not asking for EVERYTHING. Of course Goldman was finding a scapegoat, but where’s the rest of it? That’s the question. That would also lessen the heat on the other guy, it seems.
OMG … Claire McCaskill up !
Shorter Corker: You guys are so smart, there are no public employees who could ever understand what you do, so it’s unreasonable to expect the Fed govt could have a credible resolution mechanism, to have the expertise and sense to unravel you if you were a systemic risks or about to fail . . . so therefore, we should do . . . uh, . . .
What?
You? Maybe, I don’t know you that well.
[Mod Note: No more insults or you're gone]
Because he’s too busy being on too many prestigious boards of directors?
Yeah, I would love to get her take on this!
And I sometimes get to pick the brains of two people who are adjunct faculty and interested in these kinds of things.
I have to say that in this instance, the Senators have come across far more credibly than Wall Street. Yes, there will be people who can’t handle that concept because business is ‘always’ competent and government is ‘always’ incompetent.
Am I the only one who thinks this hearing marks some kind of power shift?
yah,they prolly had the rubes lining up for it…easy money
The whole GS operational credo can be summed up with quotes from two of America’s greatest entertainers. 1. PT Barnum – ” A sucker is born every minute” & WC Fields – “Never give a sucker an even break.”
Agreed. I thought repeal of that was a big mistake.
But, it isn’t same as predicting over some finite time what is going to happen in any market. You can guess, you can make an educated guess. But, it is a guess.
don’t forget the all important corollary:
You can’t cheat an honest man!
really …who cares what you think,your ma?
Bingo!
Bipartisanship, baby !
In the town of Bedrock, it’s a page right out of his-tor-yyy
“We couldn’t predict this catastrophe.” Couldn’t predict it? hey made it slam dunk inevitable and obscenely profitable for themselves.
This was not a bad result like an asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago. (Yes, hyperbole aside, that was a really bad outcome.)
The plan was designed to reap exponential profits, by shifting risk and losses to other parties — rape, pillage & burn — then claim they were the victims of unforseen events, the system had to be rescued.
The solution? TBTF, where Wall Street saved itself at the expense of the system.
Obama’s PR machine will use these hearings to either 1) push McConnell & Co. drop their filibuster and come to the table, or 2) cut their own throats by opposing the only thing average American’s will get out of this televised testimony — this rip off will not stop without a Glass-Steagal bill for the 21st Century — and Republicans will blow any chance of picking up seats in the Senate.
OK. I’ve had enough for one sitting. Will read the rest in the headlines.
I see your point, but I think this is new territory for Coburn and I respect the sense of ‘fairness’ or ‘loyalty’ or ‘responsibility’ that in my view the questions imply. It was a first step, and it surprised me (pleasantly).
McCaskill is tougher than the Wall Street guys. I love it.
yup……….and now they get to borrow from the fed at 0%
BEE good! nitey
Whoa: Blankfein conceded to Claire McCaskill that his firm would have been doing due diligence of the risks of the underlying mortgages at the bottom of their structured deals. Up until now, they were playing “we didn’t know 90% of these loans were liars’ loans,” — which is their defense for marketing securities based on fraud.
So she’s pressing him to show us their due diligence documentation — good work, Claire.
Interesting that Blankfein keeps his hands under the table most of the time.
Corkhead or Coburn? Gray hair, parted in the middle is Coburn.
Wall Street reads Scientific American. They just extrapolated dark energy into the financial system.
Senator McCaskill is excellent … hopes she reels him in.
McCaskill notes that regulators were doing spot checks (a “scoop”) and finding high percentage of fraud in loans. so what was goldman doing?
Then, why did you ask if I thought you were too dumb to fail?
I hope we can keep the personal element out of our conversation and stick to ideas.
I deleted the post by mistake on my edit, sorry.
But yep Coburn essentially was talking in circles arguing that the gov’t would not be as skilled to unwind or takeover the risk of a failed big Bank like GS should they failed. He essentially argued that only skilled and highly intelligent GS bankers would be qualified and capable of doing something like that. (Um yeah the guys and bankers that caused their own failure and demise are far more qualified and capable of unwinding themselves and running the new bank?)
No, I think it’s stranger and more surprising than that.
Sen Levin is always prepared in any hearing that I’ve ever seen.
Ditto McCaskill.
But generally, the rest of the committees kind of float along and bloviate. This time, the senators have spent far and away the bulk of their time on questions, and they’ve known what they were talking about.
And several GOP senators have mentioned ‘The Big Short’.
I think that they’re actually starting to question what happened, and the more they find out and learn the more horrified they are.
We have about a 20 minute piece on her earlier today — it was fun to watch — we’ll get it up later.
It’s here
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1479061433&play=1
Yeah, no one could have anticipated that the banksters would take advantage of the repeal of laws guiding and enforcing regulation …
You have to understand the difference between understanding and feeling. Many sociopaths are extremely adept at reading (and therefore manipulating) people’s emotions, desires, needs, intentions, weaknesses, etc. But it’s purely an intellectual exercise, pure science on a psychological level. Sociopaths are sometimes violent but mostly they make the world’s greatest con men. They have no emotional reaction or aversion to lying; to them it’s simply a tool. They have no conscience as a regulator, brake, or counterweight to their intellectual pursuit of their own best interests.
yeah, i noticed that of the first four dudes earlier today.
Since this was so predictable back in 2007, even to a lot of John Q. Publics posting on a blog, then the question really arises: Where the F was Levin back then?? Why wasn’t he having hearing then, BEFORE it collapsed?
McCaskill: “Would more disclosure harm your business model? … It’s interesting to me that we’re pulling you along kicking and screaming.”
And Blankfein can’t say whether or not that’s true.
Breathtaking.
it is a concern troll,trying to derail discussion,has been for days
Again, begging the question, where was Levin, Dodd and Frank since this was all so predictable?
it is hopelessly confused!
yah,Machiavelli s
That was a tongue-in-cheek remark from me … I have also been surprised at the level of preparation by Coburn, Ensign & Co., with the possible exception of McCain.
Wanna venture a guess on the outcome of this case?
A Goldman trading scandal? | Analysis & Opinion |Jul 5, 2009 … Federal authorities allege the computer codes and related-trading …. Goldman Sachs Grand Theft Code? Auto Calculating SSN’s? … into the NYSE that was stolen and reveals how you make $100 million in trading revenue [. …
blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/…/a-goldman-trading-scandal/ – Cached – Similar
Plea in Case of Stolen Code From Goldman – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.comFeb 18, 2010 … A former Goldman Sachs computer programmer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he stole … Plea in Case of Stolen Code From Goldman …
dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/…/plea-in-case-of-stolen-code-from-goldman/ – Cached
Goldman Sachs code stolen – a key to manipulating stocks – Bright …Jul 7, 2009 … Goldman Sachs’ troubles don’t stop with just the stolen computer code. Rolling Stone is running an expose which claims Goldman Sachs was …
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/…/goldman-sachs-code-stolen-e28093-a-key-to-manipulating-stocks.aspx – Cached – Similar
New post; Jane Hamsher has another video and post from the hearing, so let’s all move to that thread.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/04/27/video-kaufman-confronts-goldmans-david-viniar-about-shorting-the-cdos-they-pushed-to-their-clients/
Thanks, Scarecrow, you’ve been doing great work on this issue.
That’s in response (my original 257) to Scarecrows post at (263). Doh….my head hurts watching all these sociopaths argue why they’re so much smarter than the rest of us, deserve all their money, and yet bear no responsibility for bringing the economy down big time. Just doin Gawd’s Work…nothing to see move along.
terrific!
Sorry, incorrect. Bringing up legitimate issues.
Very well stated.
I’m frankly to see this so clearly throughout the day.
Very, very sad.
If nothing else, it makes really clear that these people should not have any responsibility for the big decisions of the world. Several of these Senators clearly see this pretty starkly — and being a prosecutor, McCaskill probably knew it walking into the room.
Thanks Scarecrow…
My sense is that everyone around here is as (pleasantly) shocked as you. And me ;-))
Blankfein: I am the CEO of GS and I no nuzzing !
After 10 years of an unprecedented meteoric price rise, the only thing a decent market guy should be thinking about is how close the end is. Such moves are always followed by big declines. Same in reverse. Judging from the middle of an established range, as we are in now, is MUCH harder.
There’s no excuse for all these geniuses claiming they never thought housing prices would go down, they just thought they’d go up forever. None. That’s not what markets do.
McCaskill nails it.
A CDO is not a ‘normal’ futures contract.
Blankfein claims **all** futures are ‘bets’. And CDOs are ‘futures’, therefore obviously they are bets.
I guess if you are handing out bad seed for next year’s corn crop so that all that commodity goes back so that you can bet against it, then Blankfein would be accurate.
McCaskill’s nailing his ass. And Goldman’s.
These are not ‘bets’. These are rigged from the get-go.
Great football analogy by McCaskill …
Remember the two elderly investment brokers in Trading Places?
McCaskill: We are going to nail your ass with our legislation.
Glad she publicly lauded the committee staff; that was nice to see.
Pryor has a calm, quiet style but wow have his questions been good.
Sorry, missed that movie 8(
IIRC, they said, whether their clients win or lose, they make money.
To which Eddie Murphy’s character retorts, “Oh, you’re a coupla Bookies !”
ooooohhhh Pryor ask why GS would ever even need to use a SIV (off balance sheet)?
This could be good…
Pryor: “So the off balance sheet is disclosed?”
Blankfein doesn’t know.
And I’m a monkey’s uncle.
HAHAHAHHAHA
once again blankfein cannot answer when info should be disclosed to investors.
the big losers
everybody who had a pension,local government,involved with GS
prolly NEVER
The Wages of Perverse Incentives
Levin was doing what every single senator and congressperson has done, is doing, and will do — raising corporate campaign contributions for his re-election.
Is real change possible? It may be. Is it likely? No, because the tsunami of political contributions, government/industry revolving door payoffs, and media controlled messaging simply will not allow it.
Perverse incentives yield optimum results for the very few, and everyone else is stuck with picking up the tab for what was formerly known as the Public Good.
Trading Places (1983)
Directed by John Landis. With Eddie Murphy , Denholm Elliott, Dan Aykroyd, Maurice Woods. A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as …
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/ – Cached – Similar
You gotta see this one-a classic,and spot on!
Now added to my list ;-))
This Thread is getting long, folks. Please join us upstairs.
Another joke on the American People that the Congress will do anything about what the hearing was about.
Show and tell, to drop and forget.
Fear and Loathing on Wallstreet:
Lucy: Those two men in the dock they gave me the C.D.O.’s and they took me to the hotel. I don’t know what they done to me, but I remember it was horrible.
[Llyod Groans]
Judge: They gave you what?
Lucy: C.D.O.
Judge: Castration! Double castration!
To highlight a perfect example of what I referred to previously with Eisenhower’s statement to be aware the shadow government, was this beauty that came out during Senator Levin’s questioning of Blankfein.
The question asked was who decided that Goldman would be paid 2.5 billion from AIG? Blankfein stated that if government ( the tax payer ) didn’t make the payment, that Goldman’s own insurance company would pay it.
Dumb question #1. Who was Goldman’s insurance company is this matter with AIG?
Dumb question #2. Who within our government decided that the US tax payer should step in rather than Goldman’s own insurance carrier to pay the 2.5 billion that Goldman would have lost if AIG had failed?
As usual, the questioner never did get any type of credible answer. My question again is who exactly is it that works behind the scenes who would prefer to run fast and lose with our tax dollars, rather than allow the private insurance carrier to take the hit? While just a guess on my part, Could one of Warren Buffett’s insurance companies have been on the hook for that one?
These hearing exposed only one thing and accomplished little. There is a connection between government and the private sector that is incredibly corrupt and relies on US tax payer bailouts to keep this ponzi scheme going. This was a CYA session.
Great questions!
Hopefully we’ll find out who was on the hook, and if it was Mr. Omaha.
What I am wondering is how much did Former Secretary of the Treasury and Former Chairman and Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs know when he was holding a gun to the heads of our Reps saying give me the keys to the treasury..now because it is only going to hurt more later.
How much did Paulson know when he helped his Wall Street pals dip their filthy paws into the U.S. Treasury?
These fat cats walk out of these hearings and get in hundred thousand dollar vehicles, go home to multi million dollar homes, take hundred thousand dollar vacations, send their kids to Ivy League colleges (and Chris Matthews refers to these people as somehow genetically superior have heard that numbskull do this). They are not going to do any time for their crimes. They do not give a rats ass. They have all ready walked with the $$$. They can take a few tongue lashings from our Reps.
We will not see any of them in orange suits cleaning up our roadsides. But the peasants do prison time for robbing a corner drug store.
“no one is above the law” horseshit
Seemed to me that Former Chief executive of Goldman Sachs and Former Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson was Goldmans inside heist man. He held that gun to the heads of our Reps and said hand over the keys to the treasury now, or go down with the ship.
The message seemed to be it will hurt less now if you do what I say. Now give me those keys.
Levin did rub Goldman Sachs noses in their “shitty deals” But so what? These fat cats know they are going to walk. They can take a few tongue lashings. They all ready walked with the $$$.
OT but related:
I would recommend we look at how GS would benefit from a US Infrastructure Bank. They were a major supporter of the original legislation.
What is with Testor’s tiptoeing around Blankfein?
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/43861
What is with this pussy footing around by Senator Testor when he questioned Blankfein? Testor this is”Playing around.” “Playing around” That is what Testor called thievery. These guys from Goldman Sachs are thieves.
Testor to Blankfein a “you are a smart guy”. So tired of Chris Matthews and so many of our Reps telling these thieves that they are “smart guys.” Then Testor goes on to say “I would like to work with you” Blankfein “I would like to be helpful, and I will be helpful”
What a crock of shit.
None of these thieving fat cats will do any time in prisons for ripping off the American public for putting the whole U.S. economy in jeopardy. They can take a few tongue lashings from our Reps. They walk out of these hearings to hundred thousand dollar cars, go home to multi million dollar homes, take hundred thousand dollar vacations, and send their kids to Ivy League colleges. And then people like Chris Matthews and Senator Testor tell them they are “smart guys” I even heard Chris Matthews a week or so a go reference that somehow these thieves gene stock is better than the common person. What a bunch of horseshit.
These fat cats are going to walk after ripping off the American public after scamming the unregulated system. I am willing to place a bet that no one will do any prison time for this thievery. But peasants do plenty of time in prisons for robbing corner drug stores etc.
How many of our Reps and leaders have you heard repeat the bullshit that “No one is above the law”. Complete hogwash.