Goldman Sachs: Pic of the day

[wutang]

The numbers may have changed but pushing that dynamic as economic policy has not. That's what they're banking on for the recovery, that Americans will start to believe that the economy is turning around and they'll start spending like drunken sailors again...

 

[Bob111]

Goldman exec named first COO of SEC enforcement

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_enforcement_official

 

[Misthos]

Many here naively believe that they are on that jetski. We're all going to be losers. Maybe not today, maybe not next week, but eventually the great reset will occur and very few outside of the elites will be ready for it.

 

[the1]

Another fox in the hen house.

Quote from Bob111:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_enforcement_official

 

[psychonin]

Quote from FB123:

Once you get past a certain point, it is not about merit or how hard you work any more, it is about who you know. The people that earn those massive bonuses at GS and other firms are not getting that money because they deserve it for all their hard work - they are getting paid those exorbitant sums because they have rigged the system to allow them to do that, at the expense and risk of everyone else. So that's where the free enterprise model kind of breaks down, because the playing field is not even remotely level any more at that point. They own the system, and they are stealing wealth from everybody else.

Isnt' this pretty much true of every society that has ever existed?

 

[FB123]

Quote from psychonin:

Isnt' this pretty much true of every society that has ever existed?

Yes, and this is what I have been saying since the beginning. Some people have actually been defending GS as an honest model of free enterprise, when in fact it is anything but.

 

[krazykarl]

Quote from FB123:

Yes, and this is what I have been saying since the beginning. Some people have actually been defending GS as an honest model of free enterprise, when in fact it is anything but.

No one in this thread has alluded to GS being a model of anything other than success.

 

[leela]

Quote from FB123:

You know, these wall street fat cats really should think about how these exorbitant bonuses are making them look to the American people right now.

It's one thing to pay yourself a huge bonus when everything is going fine with the economy... but right after you have taken billions in taxpayer money, and while the rest of the country is in a near depression, paying yourself like this in such a public manner is actually pretty stupid.

There are a hell of a lot of very pissed off, desperate people out there these days without a lot to lose. It really won't take much for some nutjob to decide that Wall Street is the cause of all his problems and take matters into his own hands... with a shotgun.

If I was the CEO of a large firm, I would have made real sure to publicly donate a hefty sum to charity and make it seem like I actually cared about "the people". These guys are getting awfully complacent about the mood in the country right now, and that's a pretty stupid thing to do considering how many crazies there are out there. It's a question of self-preservation.

How much of this money is from the Fed printing press or our tax money. If the win, it is thiers to get. If they lose, taxpayers bail them.

So Last year GS became a bank holding company. The have access to almost unlimted Fed money at zero interest. As a bank, they are suppose to do anything speculative.

Well, that has not stopped.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/transcript4.html

 

[Shreddog]

Quote from asiaprop:

walk us through it, smartass.

You think you can lend out what you borrow at zero? Well look at BoA and Citi results then you see clearly what losses they had to write off on the back of their credit card business. So much to the responsible American consumer, LOL!!!

Not sure who looks more stupid now...

Borrow at zero, buy anything that yields more or you think is going up. Losses go to the taxpayer. What's so hard to understand?

 

[Shreddog]

So the fundamental question: Is Goldman making obscene profits off the US taxpayer?

Let's ignore the the tarp funds, the zero interest loans, the ability to use toxic garbage as collateral at the discount window, the AIG bailout that allowed GS to get paid by AIG in full. Ignore all of this and ask yourself this simple question:

What if GS blows up badly enough to take the firm down next quarter? This is a reasonable question since it was conceivable they could have gone down in Q4 of last year. Will they be allowed to go under? The answer to this answers the fundamental question.