Eliot Spitzer On Goldman Sachs
The anti-Goldman sentiment keeps on growing: next up is Bloomberg’s interview with former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in which he chimes in with his views of Taibbi’s Goldman Sachs article and Goldman’s money making prowess (”because it is a conspiracy does not mean it is wrong”). In a impressively coherent presentation, the former Governor also talks about bankrupt states and the lack of regulation (his family life disclosure may be fast forwarded). Must watch.
via Eliot Spitzer On Matt Taibbi and Goldman Sachs | zero hedge.
Thanks to Tyler Durden for the heads-up on this one. Spitzer, all jokes aside, makes me mourn his lost career a little here. Even beyond the fact that he sticks up for my Goldman piece a little, his explanation for the underlying issues surrounding Wall Street in general is crystal clear and gets right to the heart of why in particular Goldman’s astonishing profit numbers today are an outrage. We made a political decision in the middle of an economic crisis to use the state as a crutch to prop up exactly one sector of the economy, and we chose exactly the wrong people — Spitzer’s note here about how we confuse the economy with the financial services sector is dead-on, and his point about how Goldman’s profits today are directly related to its low cost of capital, thanks to all the post-bailout state backing for lending.
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Not to excuse Spitzer’s prior behavior, but he was taken out BECAUSE he was so adamant about subjects like these. As governor, he was relentless against the GSs of the world and they ordered a ‘tactical leak’ on his personal shenanigans.
Come on. As if politicians and private sexcapades aren’t a regular phenomenon — right down to your local city council…
Who are these people on here defending goldman? Some stripper posted in the Claudia Deutsch thread supporting her and saying that America is based on what Goldman is doing, “survival of the fittest.”
Are these people for real or is Goldman Sachs getting people on the same site you post on to shill for them?
Worth the wait. I just subscribed to Rolling Stone because of you generally and this article specifically.
Ha. Me too.
In response to another comment. See in context »And I bought it off the newsstand – but I’ll be happy to subscribe as well.
I’m glad to see we have at LEAST ONE media source that is not already PRESOLD to the banking oligarchy.
In response to another comment. See in context »Dear Russ G, For the record, I agree with Matt Taibbi on this issue. Now I would like to ask you why you described a journalist on this site as “some stripper”? Are you for real?
I don’t know who she is, but the alliteration in her name and her vapid understanding of the issue at hand, as well as her quick dismissal of very very valid criticisms made me wonder…
You calling her a journalist is the real joke here.
In response to another comment. See in context »Actually, you know what? I probably went too far. I have much, much more respect for strippers than I do for Ms. Dimond and her blathering. My apologies if my statements were construed as sexist, that was not their intent.
Her name does sound really fake though.
In response to another comment. See in context »Matt, Spitzer is one of the most lucid politicians I have heard. His column for Slate is really impressive sometimes. Matt, I also feel sorry for you. You have a bit of a reputation, more so than most people on the site, and you attract a lot of idiots and jerks. Like really irritating, stupid moths to a flame.
Yes, Matt Taibbi is as talented a provocateur as he is a writer. However, I’m hoping that T/S does not become overrun with too many Taibbi groupies – crassly insulting anyone with a difference of opinion or ignorant perspective. They are plenty of amateur blogs for that.
I take issue with some of the childish remarks he has made toward other contributors who were in no way breathing fire at his posts. I must admit, his writing, in addition to being accurate, is addicting.
In response to another comment. See in context »I don’t understand this mentality where intellectual indolence is absolutely acceptable but calling someone out for making an idiotic statement – that’s a no no.
You know what’s childish? Insisting on discussing a topic when you’re unwilling to put in any effort to understand the issues at hand. _That_ is what immaturity looks like – blabbering on and on, not because you have something to say but because you desperately crave the attention your parents never gave you.
In response to another comment. See in context »Russ G, I’ve read through many of your comments to get a better sense of why you’re riffing in the style you’re using, and decided you actually just care deeply about the issue and fell into that old dependable entertainment-value style of calling women you don’t like sluts. No biggie. On you go.
Hey, I know a few strippers and only one of them is a slut.
That was not my angle. If she didn’t have a name that sounded ’stripper-ish’ then I would have used some other dumb insult. The fact that I picked a mostly female occupation with a usually negative connotation is pure coincidence in this case.
Let’s just say she’s lucky she isn’t a guy or I might have gone after penis size.
In response to another comment. See in context »Fox News has recently seen a spate of analysts/guests with stripper names. One was a man named John Tabacco. If that were my name, I’d definitely go by Johnny. Before that was a female analyst whose name on the chyron came out “SE CUPP.” The best one was a woman with very strong facial features who went by her full name “Jennifer Millerwise Dyck” (pronounced ‘dyke’) and used to work for Dick Cheney. Fox has suddenly become funnier.
In response to another comment. See in context »Ha! Equal opportunity offender. All I wanted to know. What is it about Taibbi that brings this out in people? LOL v
You should read some of the 9/11 truther comments Matt has gotten on other sites.
In response to another comment. See in context »I don’t believe Goldman made any profit. I think they simply used taxpayer bailout funds as necessary to juggle their garbage “assets” in order to resell them to willing accomplices or unsuspecting investors.
The great thing about Eliot Spitzer is that he at least had enough class to make a mutually-agreeable business arrangement with the gal he was F*&$!ing – - – unlike GS and their co-conspirators, who’ve nailed us without offering anything in return.
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Elliott Spitzer for Treasury secretary – two sacred cows at one blow
Sacred Cow 1 – that American politicians have to be eunuchs. I offerno justification for Spitzer’s actions – they are irrelevant to everyone but his family
Sacred Cow 2 – that the Federal government should be “friendly” with the bloodsuckers on Wall Street,
unfortunately there is no penalty for being “caught in bed” with Goldman-Sachs.
As I watched Spitzer I did a quick look-up and saw that Goldman Sachs had set aside 11.36 billion in compensation and benefits for the first 6 months of the year. That’s an amazing figure when one considers that Indiana sufferers from a 7 billion dollar deficit in unemployment benefits alone in a scenario being repeated across the country.
Spitzer didn’t spend enough time on the fact that Goldman is trading for it’s own account and doing very little of it’s traditional role of obtaining equity capital to bring promising companies public.
I guess when you run a 97% ( mathematical Impossibility) rate of positive trading days with 100 million a day for one’s own account , 44% of which goes to employee bonuses, why waste time and money bringing companies public to help restructure the economy for a measly 7% when their black box trading is doing the mathematical equivalent of blowing itself.
I guess we are jealous of Goldman because they can only do what dogs can do. Amazing no one asks them how they do that. Meanwhile The sounds from congress and treasury are whistles and crickets as Goldman crows about it in their quarterly conference call.