Post: #1

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/...2CwwXmwUzN

Post: #2

Goldman Sachs Wrote:We disagree with the views expressed, which we don't think reflect the way we run our business. In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.

Might not want to say the word 'lies' right when everyone thinks you're full of shit. Just a thought.

Post: #3

(03-14-2012 10:47 AM)basilransom Wrote:  

Goldman Sachs Wrote:We disagree with the views expressed, which we don't think reflect the way we run our business. In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves.

Might not want to say the word 'lies' right when everyone thinks you're full of shit. Just a thought.

Yes, they can only be succesfull if their clients like, ummmm.... Greece say, are succesful.

They are such a bunch of crooks it's not even funny. But I guess the way the exec team sees it they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders/partners to screw, well, everyone and everything they can.

The fact that they were Obama's biggest individual donor in 2008 is cause for great concern.

Post: #4

Post: #5

(03-14-2012 11:12 AM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  The fact that they were Obama's biggest individual donor in 2008 is cause for great concern.

I think you will find that moving forward, they will be the biggest individual donor of whoever wins the Presidency.

Post: #6

The finance industry selects for these kinds of people, who put success over everything else. You're working grueling hours, you had to jump through a bunch of hoops and plan for years to get where you are, and hey, being where you are is proof of how great you are.

At the end of the day, Americans respect the man who is fantastically successful, not the one who abides by all the rules and achieves only modest success. Maybe you banged 500 girls, or made a billion dollars, people will respect you for what you accomplished. How you did it, not so important. They will pretty much gloss over the fact that you did some sleazy things to get there. And you probably can't change this about us, but you can at least provide effective oversight to prevent excesses.

Post: #7

Lloyd Blankfein responds:
http://www.borowitzreport.com/

Post: #8

That was a hell of an Op-Ed, basically an inside confirmation of what we already knew. You know Wall Street is out of control when a 100+ year old "respected" company is sucking its' "clients" dry; selling them stuff, not revealing they're betting against it, then watching it tank is pretty low. The country needs Wall Street to keep the economic engine greased...but they don't seem up to the task. Never thought I'd see it, but now we really can see the limits of US-style capitalism.

The interesting thing about where we are right now is that it's really nobody's fault. So it'll be hard to fix. Its a culture problem where everyone just grabs whatever they can. It's all "Me, me, me, I, I, I." Sad.

Post: #9

Thread needs more Brian.

Post: #10

Public Rebuke of Culture at Goldman Opens Debate
By SUSANNE CRAIG and LANDON THOMAS JR., New York Times, March 14, 2012, 8:00 pm

Criticism by Greg Smith, a largely anonymous 33-year-old midlevel executive who resigned Wednesday, sent ripple effects through Wall Street….The article reignited a debate on the Internet and on cable television over whether Wall Street was corrupted by greed and excess. By noon, television crews crowded outside Goldman’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan. More than three years after the financial crisis, the perception that little has changed on Wall Street — and that no one has been held accountable for the risk-taking that led to the crisis — looms large in the public consciousness. While it was an unusual cry from the heart of a Wall Street insider, many questioned whether it would prompt any change.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/p...ns-debate/

Post: #11

If businesses truly wanted to run a clean shop, to operate ethically, they'd fall over themselves hiring Smith and men like him, men who are ready to call out bullshit when they see it. But they aren't. All this huffing and puffing about corporate social responsibility and business ethics is just a bunch of bullshit. If that's what they wanted, Smith the whistle-blower would have dozens of job offers by now.

Post: #12

(03-15-2012 03:19 AM)T and A Man Wrote:  Thread needs more Brian.

Post: #13

What if we all split up all the wealth in the world and shared it equally between all of us guys? Wouldn't that make the world a better place?

/troll

Post: #14

Can Obama’s Wall Street reform address Greg Smith’s problem with Goldman?
Posted by Suzy Khimm, Washington Post Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog, 01:38 PM ET, 03/15/2012

Greg Smith’s biggest complaint about Goldman Sachs in his New York Times op-ed is the way he thinks the firm forsakes its clients’ interests in the name of bigger profits. And that’s precisely the problem that one of the most sweeping and controversial parts of Dodd-Frank is meant to address. The Volcker Rule prohibits banks that are backed by government guarantees from making speculative bets that don’t benefit their customers — in other words, it’s a ban on what is known as proprietary trading. The Volcker rule hasn’t been finalized yet, and its July start date could get pushed back....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra..._blog.html

Post: #15

No. It won't. The Volcker rule overextends beyond the practices that lead to the collapse of Bear/Lehman and the financial crisis, without addressing the issues Greg Smith was writing about.

To comment on the op-ed piece,
It was very bad form on the part of the writer. He was out for attention, and he got just that. It's a bitch move, despite the fact that just about everything he said was true....

Post: #16

http://www.constitutionaldaily.com/index...&Itemid=65

Post: #17

I disagree with the writer of that second piece. I've, in various dealings, handled many entities who engage in that "how long can I milk it" type of business. They get dropped real quick. If you provide an honest product, you might not make huge profits, but you will have a degree of stability and solid growth your larger brethren cannot hope for.

But hypercapitalism is gonna implode sooner or later. What started in the late 70s will finally end. Advertising is losing its influence, there's less people to buy products, and more anger towards corporations than before in modern history.