dagblog - Comments for "Disgruntled Goldmanite"

Thanks for the tip NCD.

Dan Kervick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:38:22 +0000

In reply to Dan, see new Rolling Stone

Thanks for the tip NCD.

Dan, see new Rolling Stone

NCD — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:01:23 +0000

In reply to [Posted at Zero Hedge by Nomi

Dan, see new Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi article: Guy Who Rented All 94 Rooms of Aspen Hotel for Party Scores Awesome New Goldman Job.

Jeffrey Verschleiser, who assembled the 'sack of shit' mortgage packages at the late Bear Stearns is now 'global head of mortgage trading for Goldman Sachs' where we can be assured he will "make ethical or other compromises in order to do (his) job". His job being to do exactly what Greg Smith related in the NYT, a job totally unlike an MTA or teaching job, one that that can, and has, brought the global economy to its knees.

Ok, this comment is freaking

Saladin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:04:09 +0000

In reply to "What's more troubling is

Ok, this comment is freaking funny. I'll give you that.

All right, next time I'll

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:26:09 +0000

In reply to And I do think the financial

All right, next time I'll check with you to confirm whose character I'm obliged to assassinate and whose I'm obligated to beautify. The good-banker-bad-banker thing is a little confusing.

PS In case it wasn't quite clear to you, I called Smith a weenie because his "whistle blowing" accusations were so tepid (though the muppet bit had some nice color).

[Posted at Zero Hedge by Nomi

Dan Kervick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:26:02 +0000

In reply to Disgruntled Goldmanite

[Posted at Zero Hedge by Nomi Prins. No fawning, and yet shockingly to the point and non-witty.]

From Nomi Prins, former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and aithor of It Takes A Pillage

My Statement Regarding Greg Smith's Goldman Resignation

Today, I have received dozens of media requests and hundreds of emails regarding former Goldman Sachs executive, Greg Smith's gutsy, and internationally resonating, public resignation.

I applaud Smith's decision to bring the nature of Goldman's profit-making strategies to the forefront of the global population's discourse, as so many others have been doing through books, investigative journalism, and the Occupy movements over the past decade since my book, Other People's Money, was written after I resigned from Goldman. It would be great if Smith's illuminations would serve as the turning point around which serious examination and re-regulation of the banking system framework would transpire.

The inherent conflict of interest that firms such as Goldman possess through enjoying the multiple roles of 'market-maker,' 'securities creator' and 'client-advisor' foster an environment rife with systemic risk. The trading revenue portion of Goldman's profits, as well as its derivatives vs. assets ratio, is the highest amongst the American bank holding companies. And yet, in the fall of 2008, the Federal Reserve approved Goldman Sachs (along with Morgan Stanley) to alter its moniker from investment bank to bank holding company, thereby allowing it to gain access to federal subsidies and potential ongoing support.

In this regard, the firm's practices should remain under intense scrutiny by the general public and legislators. I would hope that the message behind Smith's resignation will not be obfuscated by debates over the extent to which the firm's clients are either supported or exploited, but instead, serve as a powerful call to foster a more-strictly delineated and less reckless financial system.

And I do think the financial

Dan Kervick — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:26:23 +0000

In reply to Actually, I only posted a

And I do think the financial sector is preternaturally evil these days.

This isn't just bankers being bankers. The world really did go to hell during this crime spree. And the criminals have still barely been prosecuted. And we know why: because they own all of our politicians.

And they are doing the same thing in Europe: lining up with paid off technocrats to dismantle democracies.

David Cameron, the very conservative Tory leader who is one of the world's leading proponents and architects of of the politics of austerity and financial sector counter-revolution against Europe's social democratic compact, was just over here yucking it up with our Tory president.

So I would say it's time to throw your grogger right at those motherfuckers. And then go get a few slings and rocks and start slinging the rocks too.

Actually, I only posted a

Dan Kervick — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:59:43 +0000

In reply to Hey Sal. I think you've put

Actually, I only posted a comment after I read your comment.

I agree that the cultural

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:58:13 +0000

In reply to I think the problem here is

I agree that the cultural problem is not unique to Goldman, although I don't think Smith claimed it was. He was simply commenting on the institution he knew.

I do disagree with the assumption that the culture has not changed there. Even allowing for Smith's youth illusions and thirty-something disillusion, it may well be that things have turned worse there. That doesn't mean that I believe Goldman Sachs was previously a shining beacon of social benevolence, or that I don't acknowledge that Goldman, like other firms, sometimes had a conflict of interest with its clients. But there's a difference between a relatively client-centric firm that occasionally trades at the client's expense and a mainly predatory firm that occasionally does what's in the client's interest. It is very possible that an important balance has shifted inside that firm.

This is the danger of cynicism when it stops making distinction between degrees of corruption. When you say everyone on Wall Street is dirty, and always has been, you're shutting the door on any reforms and enabling the worst criminals because you refuse to single them out from the minor offenders. Even if everyone on Wall Street is a little dirty, they're not equally dirty. Some have to be watched more carefully; some need to be driven out of business as soon as possible. It's important to sort them out.

"Maybe something will tickle

MrSmith1 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:51:02 +0000

In reply to <i>Thanks for making me feel

"Maybe something will tickle my funny bone."

Maybe this will do it.

The Times ... could be so

acanuck — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:26:33 +0000

In reply to I think I'm reacting to the

The Times ... could be so much more.

No it couldn't, Destor. That's its DNA. Same as wishing for a Goldman-Sachs that's a force for good, a Catholic Church without the pedophilia, or a Republican Party without the racism. I'm not saying things don't change and evolve (for good or ill), but it takes generations. Institutional memory and culture are mighty forces.