Goldman Sachs has removed all doubt about who really controls America. 10 million unemployed, 10 million more underemployed, millions losing their homes, a slow, steady, pernicious decline in living standards and wealth, Goldman knows that the "game" is over and their response is to soak it for as much as they can before the doomsday arrives. Our government is controlled by children who do not have a clue on what makes an economy strong. Our leadership has been bought off with part-time hedge fund gigs that pay 5 million a year. Deceit is rampant, be it in climate change, banking, sharing the political spoils. The left and the right are both guilty of engaging in "the end justifies the means" charades to further their dogmatic beliefs. I have never felt so low about a July 4th in my life. There is NOTHING to celebrate about the direction of this once great nation of ours. We have given up the mantle. The future is for China and others to grasp as fall into a morass of incompetency and greed. Enjoy your bonuses, asshats.
Kaiser Soze
· 5 months ago
I am very surprised at how weak Obama has been in office compared to his campaign. He has allowed himself to be manipulated to a large extent and instead of being an agent of change as promised, he has become nothing more than a rubber stamp for the same Wall Streeters who caused this mess. I really thought he would have had the cajones to stand up to these guys. I guess he is just too young and inexperienced, just like McCain and Clinton said. When you step back and think about it, he was probably the worst choice of any of the candidates from either party that started out seeking the Presidency. We really needed someone who was older, wiser and had been around the block a few times. When he appointed Geithner, that was a big tipoff.
onetwothree
· 5 months ago
I was consistently surprised by the positive view of BHO during his campaign. Like the non-existent outrage and mourning that the media concocted after 9/11, I think it was mostly an illusion. (Though, it's hard to make huge crowds as a product of illusion...)
His first big national speech, his keynote for the DNC had this howler in it,
___We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. ... We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.___
I remember being very embarrassed to here this. It was...weak and pathetic. Smarmy, and cliches, and PC, and trendy, and weak all at once. You've got your fake patriotism, your fake traditionalism, your fake give-a-shit-about-homos, your fake dichotomy, your fake imagery. And that stupid little quip is what the MSM grabbed onto and turned into a Kennedy moment.
imapopulistnow
· 5 months ago
Next time my vote for President is going to Obama's speech writer.
imapopulistnow
· 5 months ago
In retrospect, Mitt Romney was the only candidate who understood our economic situation. Unfortunately he made a conscious decision to team up with the established powers, thinking this would be needed to get elected. His strategy backfired, because even conservatives were tired of business as usual and selected an outsider, McCain as their candidate, unfortunately someone who was being candid when he admitted that he didn't have a clue about economic issues.
Now we are stuck with emotion-driven idealogues who, in spite of their best intentions to "save the planet" and provide "justice of all" are running us into the ground with big government programs and inefficient baggage that will be around for decades to come. The Volkers and other wise men /women have been cast aside and old school liberal politics prevail. We are eating what ever is left of the seed corn that we have not already let spoil.
And Goldman Sach's response to this? Screw them. Buy some political cover with large donations and then suck all we can out of this broken system before it goes down completely.
Now that is what I call a "force for good".
dark_pools_of_soros
· 5 months ago
yeah much more than Ron Paul right?
Johnny_Cashflow
· 5 months ago
Amen
Malaise
· 5 months ago
Come on , he's from chicago , democrats get more money from banks then the republicans. He's corrupt like F.
imapopulistnow
· 5 months ago
Based on analysts' earnings forecasts for 2009, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is on track to pay out as much as $20 billion this year, or about $700,000 per employee. That would be nearly double the firm's $363,000 average last year, and slightly higher than the $661,000 for the average Goldman employee in fiscal 2007, according to analyst estimates reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
SERIOUSLY WTF IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?
wawawa
· 5 months ago
This country has been controlled by centers of Money who has bought politicians in the Congress and the WhiteHouse.
It is not new, it has been going on tacidly forthe last 100 years.
Who would have thought an obscure/inexperience/junior senator would be president of the USA? Why Romney misteriously withdraw from Republican campain and opened the door for McCain, who has not chance in hell or i nheaven to get elected.
It was all by design. Our democacy is a sham. I gave Obama the benefits of the doubts, but only after 30 days in the office I was convinced that he is a pawn just like bush.
ghostfaceinvestah
· 5 months ago
Obama is worse than Bush, in that at least with Bush you knew you were getting a guy tightly tied to oil money.
They are both corrupt, but at least Bush's corruption was a bit more "honest". Hussein is nothing but a sham.
texpat
· 5 months ago
I wonder how long it took for him to realize he'd been had, and what fate might lie in wait if he misbehaved.
He talked a great game to get elected, but realistically, things would have been the same under McCain. Same ex-GS guys raping the taxpayer and the treasury.
Does anyone really know what's going to happen when the $1.2 trillion of MBS held by the treasury/Fed(?) starts to go bad?
IMA5U
· 5 months ago
That's the power of an $889 million lobby to Obama. Great IRR.
George Orwell
· 5 months ago
THANK YOU for the Joe Cassano piece by Michael Lewis. You are the best financial blog on the internet!
George
joevan
· 5 months ago
Bah. Michael Lewis is contacted by Jake Desantis--the whiny fuck who complained about losing his bonus in the Times--and he deserves no sympathy. His letter made it clear that even if Cassano was the instigator nobody at AIG understand exactly what's wrong with what they did, or why taxpayers were furious. Lewis is just an apologist here: pointing out the worst to defend the complicit.
imapopulistnow
· 5 months ago
Agreed. They all new but the money was too great. Lewis implies that it was Goldman Sachs who ultimately brought AIG down by requiring collateral in the CDO contracts and then pricing the subprime bonds extremely low. Sounds to me like GS new it would blow up and new how to make a buck off of it blowing up.
In the fine words of Mr. von Pragg, Goldman Sachs just wants to be a "Force for Good".
disgust
· 5 months ago
All I hear everywhere is talk of mistakes, yet all I see is fraud. Blatant fraud. Fraud from the borrower's lying about their info on applications, fraud from the loan officers lying to the borrowers and playing photoshop with qualifying docs, fraud from the processors and underwriters who kept quiet and didn't do their jobs, fraud from the heads of the mortgage companies that oversaw these chop shops, fraud from the I-banks who were packaging the loans and selling them, fraud by the ratings agencies that gave AAA's to pools of 95% sub prime loans, and fraud by the entire government apparatus dedicated to regulating the markets and protecting the country. Why did it all happen? Money. Why haven't we seen any arrests or indictments? Money. The only thing we can hope for now is that the politicians owned by the street will turn against them for hopes of political and personal gain.
Korea is now getting ready to have another war i think haha
Amazed_and_Confused
· 5 months ago
Maybe that's why Palin quit - The Korens were going to invade Alaska?
ella
· 5 months ago
Well, you know she can see N. Korea from Alaska. This makes her an authority on international affairs.
finance_guest
· 5 months ago
yep... just like Obama thinks he is an authority on the muslim world b/c his middle name is "Hussein" or Obama thinks he is an authority on international affairs because he lived in Indonesia for 1 yr when he was 6 years old!
BTW.. TYLER: I have friends in India who have told me its not just that the Indian PM who is now voicing doubts ,openly, about the US dollar.. many of the landmarks in India where lots of tourists visits are no longer accepting Dollars as the currency: (they sent me this link... I've been to some of these tourists spots, for the Indian government to take such actions mean they are seriosuly expecting a huge devaluation of the US dollar. It will affect 120 landmark sites where tourists visit.)
No, the reason Palin resigned is because Obama offered her a position in the White House as a show of bipartisanhip. So starting next week, she'll be the official pooper scooper for the White House dog.
finance_guest
· 5 months ago
I believe Michelle Obama has that job already.
texpat
· 5 months ago
Yes, but she's demanding to be paid in dog biscuits!
At least they hold their value.
Shaka_Zulu
· 5 months ago
All of these "smart" people getting paid millions of dollars and they didn't know how large the subprime exposure was? "Smart," as a concept, is overrated. There really aren't many "smart" people. Gene Park was/is very smart. He almost saved AIG from disaster. As for the wuss traders within AIG, I can tell you with experience that if some asshole told me to say that I just lost his money, that the water bottle in my hand was his water bottle, etc., that POS would be wearing his water bottle. Message to everybody: GROW A SET. It worked for Gene Park, didn't it? Finally, the country cannot move forward until we investigate, prosecute and jail the c-suite occupants of Goldman Sachs.
mister_x
· 5 months ago
I'm surprised there is no mention of SocGen, DB, Barclays, Calyon etc. who in aggregate got > $30B. I know GS demanded collateral first and put AIG in a death spiral but I would be interested to know why/how AIG was selling CDS to these banks and in the end, essentially funneled money from the US taxpayer to these foreign banks.
rick
· 5 months ago
It was selling CDS to those banks because it was a very lucrative business. High premiums vs. what they thought was low risk (insurance for AAA MBS). These Banks had bought huge amounts of MBS and wanted to protect themselves from the risk thus buying the CDS. Then the meltdown occurred and AIG was obligated to pay on the CDS to these banks unfortunately they were overleveraged and would have gone bankrupt and in the process put these banks at risk of going bankrupt. Not only would these banks have sustained huge losses on the MBS's they would have lost their insurance against these investments (CDS) also the money they used to pay the premiums. What I dont agree with is that gov. bailout money was used to payoff these at fair value instead of a negotiated discount, because the alternative for these banks was bankruptcy.
tester
· 5 months ago
the rogue trades occurring at the thinnest hour on a massive scale at that precise moment on the charts is all just a coincidence.. looks interesting on the charts..
chinese and indian manufacturing are ramping up? stimulus? who is buying their junk?
palin quitting her job as governor of alaska? how strange or is it? imho, the political zionist and AIPAC want her to be the warp to President Obama's woof in the next presidential election cycle. that way all the disaffected and angry conservatives can have someone they think they can support but in the end ,as usual, they are all the same. this woman has been known to display a the blue and white flag of israhell on her desk so one would have to assume that she is already bought and paid for. this woman has to be about the dumbest candidate for president there will ever be, but the stupid american people will buy it hook line and sinker. God help this country to see things are they are .
Malaise
· 5 months ago
So how did she negotiate the gas pipeline deal with Exxon , if she's stupid.
kclcpa
· 5 months ago
The "stupid" american people elected barry...stupid.
Johnny_Cashflow
· 5 months ago
I'd say that it's more likely that she's setting up for 2010. If it was for 2012 she could've just rode it out where she was.
nigel
· 5 months ago
what, what? you mean we're not on shedshule for recovery, by george, ey?
Casey
· 5 months ago
Michael Lewis's claim that no officials have talked to the people in AIG's FP department is damning. How do you fix a problem when you don't understand what caused it? I guess the people at the top don't want the answers.
I am amazed at how complacent the US citizenry has become. Who would believe they would slough off the spectacle of the government of California handing out IOUs? Unbelievable!
I can totally believe that his job was purely to shepherd the big money to GS, then stick around for some damage control. GS must be howling into their sleeves about the whole 'bonus scandal'.
AIG FP comes out of the article pretty well. They started refusing sub-prime in 2005 when even Cassano could see they were getting screwed by Wall St, even though now we know that even what they had insured in 2004/5 was enough to kill them.
Lets all pray that the self insured Alt-A and Option-ARM garbage on Wall St' books are enough to finally bring them down. If they manage to palm enough off onto the treasury, then the US itself will probably go down.
rothbard
· 5 months ago
Good article on oil - so that is how Goldman does it. The key is to do it when all the other algorithms are up and running so they can piggyback on the rising momentum.
Does anyone remember the term 'fundamental analysis'? That stuff works in a free market right? Heck, same for technical analysis; When people loaded to the gills with cash are gaming the markets what good will charts do? all they do is suck others into the game.
What a mess!
DebtorShredder
· 5 months ago
Does the outcome on the trade determine if the trader is "rogue"?
For instance, let's say the trade made 10M dollars, but was still executed without authorization. Is the trader still thought of in the same light?
Didn't think so either.......
BTW, definition of "rogue" - no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; deviating, renegade.
rick
· 5 months ago
The premise to this is why were these AAA rated in the first place. Moodys and Standard & Poors two of the most prestigious rating agencies are as much to blame as anybody. Either they weren't aware of how much garbage was in the subprime mortgages or they didnt care which in either case they weren't doing their job. If these weren't AAA rated they wouldn't have been so easy to sell(MBS) and thus not as likely to be insured (CDS) . Also the subprime loan agencies wouldn't have been able to keep selling huge amounts because financial institutions wouldn't have bought them if they had the correct rating. The problem wouldn't be this massive. It would have acted as a safe guard to the whole scenario. Where is the outrage for this?
azulum
· 5 months ago
people always act differently when they believe someone else is responsible for their deeds—even those who might be considered good people.
imapopulistnow
· 5 months ago
New York city sees slide in tourism
While I know that there are so many reasons on so many levels why my reasoning is wrong, nevertheless, I will go visit a Tallaban-occupied village in Afghanistan before I ever again set foot on the island of Manhattan!
lloyd
· 5 months ago
Happy 4th of July to every one who comes to this site, for it's unique outlooks, super informative comments and the search for the TRUTH! Have been visiting this site numerous times daily now for months. And Happy 233rd birthday to the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, hope it's not your last. Here's to the hope that we can find some peaceful path to restoring this once GREAT COUNTRY to the people. .
Ben Dover
· 5 months ago
R.I.P. United States of America 1787-2009 :(
lloydwolypod
· 5 months ago
Hey btw you ned a proof reader or a speeellllllchecker. Weekeend Readings???? Who Cares???
steve air mcnair shot and killed today in nashville. wow i can't believe it. it seems like yesterday when he was in houston , before the sorry owner moved them to tennessee. life is short. life is a gift. life is a blessing.
bf00dc
· 5 months ago
With consumer deleveraging and credit crunch - we cannot have any quick recovery - L is best case scenario. Speculative stock buying and PPT euphoria is no substitute for anything.
Credit is falling so much - private credit decreased by $1.8 Trillion is the first quarter, consumer credit by $90.7 billion (annualized). Household net worth down by $13.87 trillion.
There is no trigger for recovery - new technology, new markets, demographics, new ideas. Green is just a boondoggle and BRICs can only do so much. JPM and GS etc are just trying to create another bubble - it suits their ends not yours.
cetinsux
· 5 months ago
Your articles, they are filled with FAIL. Please go away, Cetin. STOP SPAMMING.
cetin-steals
· 5 months ago
Hey, how about you STOP RIPPING OFF DENNINGER, you spammer. LAME.
l
· 5 months ago
Personally hunt yu down!!!!
Art Vandelay
· 5 months ago
I was certain you were going to blame this on the vast international Zionist conspiracy that you seem to be obsessed with.
l
· 5 months ago
Cetin I am going to personally hunt you down if I ever see another post on this site!!!
lloydwolypod
· 5 months ago
And a speshl thanks goes out to e few uv mi favs, Lizzy, B9k9, Robot Trader, Trader Joe, Katman, Ben Dover, and yes even you GG, ya fucker. Here's to ya, an tha ones I failed to call out.
IMA5U
· 5 months ago
3:11 AM post Tyler. Noice. 311 Has Green Shoots, ya dig?
Hope everyone had a Happy 4th. I'm sure Libations and Green Shoots were abound.
All Comments
His first big national speech, his keynote for the DNC had this howler in it,
___We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. ... We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.___
I remember being very embarrassed to here this. It was...weak and pathetic. Smarmy, and cliches, and PC, and trendy, and weak all at once. You've got your fake patriotism, your fake traditionalism, your fake give-a-shit-about-homos, your fake dichotomy, your fake imagery. And that stupid little quip is what the MSM grabbed onto and turned into a Kennedy moment.
Now we are stuck with emotion-driven idealogues who, in spite of their best intentions to "save the planet" and provide "justice of all" are running us into the ground with big government programs and inefficient baggage that will be around for decades to come. The Volkers and other wise men /women have been cast aside and old school liberal politics prevail. We are eating what ever is left of the seed corn that we have not already let spoil.
And Goldman Sach's response to this? Screw them. Buy some political cover with large donations and then suck all we can out of this broken system before it goes down completely.
Now that is what I call a "force for good".
SERIOUSLY WTF IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?
It is not new, it has been going on tacidly forthe last 100 years.
Who would have thought an obscure/inexperience/junior senator would be president of the USA? Why Romney misteriously withdraw from Republican campain and opened the door for McCain, who has not chance in hell or i nheaven to get elected.
It was all by design. Our democacy is a sham. I gave Obama the benefits of the doubts, but only after 30 days in the office I was convinced that he is a pawn just like bush.
They are both corrupt, but at least Bush's corruption was a bit more "honest". Hussein is nothing but a sham.
He talked a great game to get elected, but realistically, things would have been the same under McCain. Same ex-GS guys raping the taxpayer and the treasury.
Does anyone really know what's going to happen when the $1.2 trillion of MBS held by the treasury/Fed(?) starts to go bad?
George
In the fine words of Mr. von Pragg, Goldman Sachs just wants to be a "Force for Good".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC4TvEQafaI
BTW.. TYLER: I have friends in India who have told me its not just that the Indian PM who is now voicing doubts ,openly, about the US dollar.. many of the landmarks in India where lots of tourists visits are no longer accepting Dollars as the currency:
(they sent me this link... I've been to some of these tourists spots, for the Indian government to take such actions mean they are seriosuly expecting a huge devaluation of the US dollar. It will affect 120 landmark sites where tourists visit.)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5d2_1195371411&c...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7098370.stm
At least they hold their value.
looks interesting on the charts..
http://thehumblespeculator.blogspot.com/
palin quitting her job as governor of alaska? how strange or is it? imho, the political zionist and AIPAC want her to be the warp
to President Obama's woof in the next presidential election cycle. that way all the disaffected and angry conservatives can have someone they think they can support but in the end ,as usual, they are all the same. this woman has been known to display a the blue and white flag of israhell on her desk so one would have to assume that she is already bought and paid for. this woman has to be about the dumbest candidate for president there will ever be, but the stupid american people will buy it hook line and sinker. God help this country to see things are they are .
I am amazed at how complacent the US citizenry has become. Who would believe they would slough off the spectacle of the government of California handing out IOUs? Unbelievable!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_M._Liddy
I can totally believe that his job was purely to shepherd the big money to GS, then stick around for some damage control. GS must be howling into their sleeves about the whole 'bonus scandal'.
AIG FP comes out of the article pretty well. They started refusing sub-prime in 2005 when even Cassano could see they were getting screwed by Wall St, even though now we know that even what they had insured in 2004/5 was enough to kill them.
Lets all pray that the self insured Alt-A and Option-ARM garbage on Wall St' books are enough to finally bring them down. If they manage to palm enough off onto the treasury, then the US itself will probably go down.
Does anyone remember the term 'fundamental analysis'? That stuff works in a free market right? Heck, same for technical analysis; When people loaded to the gills with cash are gaming the markets what good will charts do? all they do is suck others into the game.
What a mess!
For instance, let's say the trade made 10M dollars, but was still executed without authorization. Is the trader still thought of in the same light?
Didn't think so either.......
BTW, definition of "rogue" - no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; deviating, renegade.
While I know that there are so many reasons on so many levels why my reasoning is wrong, nevertheless, I will go visit a Tallaban-occupied village in Afghanistan before I ever again set foot on the island of Manhattan!
And Happy 233rd birthday to the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, hope it's not your last.
Here's to the hope that we can find some peaceful path to restoring this once GREAT COUNTRY to the people.
.
Weekeend Readings???? Who Cares???
steve air mcnair shot and killed today in nashville. wow i can't believe it.
it seems like yesterday when he was in houston , before the sorry owner moved them
to tennessee. life is short. life is a gift. life is a blessing.
good articles 4 slow news day: http://www.iamned.com
Credit is falling so much - private credit decreased by $1.8 Trillion is the first quarter, consumer credit by $90.7 billion (annualized). Household net worth down by $13.87 trillion.
There is no trigger for recovery - new technology, new markets, demographics, new ideas. Green is just a boondoggle and BRICs can only do so much. JPM and GS etc are just trying to create another bubble - it suits their ends not yours.
Hope everyone had a Happy 4th. I'm sure Libations and Green Shoots were abound.