Comments on: The real price of Goldman’s giganto-profits

By: The Great American Bubble Machine « Jamblichus's Weblog

The Great American Bubble Machine « Jamblichus's Weblog — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:12:19 +0000

[...] also had some thoughts on the squid’s recent profits: So what’s wrong with Goldman posting $3.44 billion in [...]

By: Peter Daou: Obama and the Goldman Fiasco: Is This America Under Democratic Leadership? | BlackNewsTribune.com

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:33:46 +0000

[...] Matt Taibbi: So what’s wrong with Goldman posting $3.44 billion in second-quarter profits, what’s wrong with the company so far earmarking $11.4 billion in compensation for its employees? What’s wrong is that this is not free-market earnings but an almost pure state subsidy. Last year, when Hank Paulson told us all that the planet would explode if we didn’t fork over a gazillion dollars to Wall Street immediately, the entire rationale not only for TARP but for the whole galaxy of lesser-known state crutches and safety nets quietly ushered in later on was that Wall Street, once rescued, would pump money back into the economy, create jobs, and initiate a widespread recovery. This, we were told, was the reason we needed to pilfer massive amounts of middle-class tax revenue and hand it over to the same guys who had just blown up the financial world. We’d save their asses, they’d save ours. That was the deal. It turned out not to happen that way. … One of the most hilarious lies that has been spread about Goldman of late is that, since it repaid its TARP money, it’s now free and clear of any obligation to the government — as if that was the only handout Goldman got in the last year. Goldman last year made your average AFDC mom on food stamps look like an entrepreneur. [...]

By: The Untold Story of TARP | Sposton

The Untold Story of TARP | Sposton — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:42:00 +0000

[...] http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/07/16/on-goldmans-giganto-profits/ [...]

By: fernly2

fernly2 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:32:54 +0000

March 2, 2010 (LPAC)—”Brazil is their weak point,” Lyndon LaRouche said today, referring to the Inter-Alpha Group, the Rothschild-run banking syndicate at the core of the British Empire’s predatory monetary system. “That’s what they’re hanging by, and whatever they’re hanging by, is what will hang them.”
As the Euro collapses along with the global systemic economic system we must know that only a global community of sovereign nation-states co-operating in regulation by Glass-Steagal Act standards will hold up because of it’s solid foundation in physical economy not bogus monetarism that trades in values arbitrarily assigned by such as Rothchild.

By: dritter

dritter — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:06:42 +0000

I wish you had discussed the scandalous fact that the TALF loans are non-recourse, and as I understand it, the Fed accepts whatever valuation the bank sets on the assets it wants to ‘borrow against’. The program was DESIGNED to let banks rip off the US Taxpayer.

And I wish you had pointed out that ripping off the Fed is directly equivalent to ripping off the US Taxpayer, since the US Taxpayer has to cover any losses that the Fed incures.

So, under TALF, the banks loan their toxic assets to the Fed AT WHATEVER MARKET VALUATIONS THE BANK chooses, and then default on the loan, leaving the Fed with NOTHING but the toxic asset itself. Nothing else. Since the loans are no recourse, giving up the toxic asset, worth 10 cents on the dollar, or whatever, gets the bank completely off the hook. This is criminal. The Federal Reserve is conspiring to defraud the American people.

TALF is DESIGNED to allow the banks to rip off the US Taxpayer.

By: dritter

dritter — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:43:46 +0000

“a political decision to use the power of the state to redirect society’s resources upward, ”

I think you are far too kind. I think “loot the US taxpayer” or possibly “loot and defraud the US taxpayer” would be a much more accurate description than the kindly euphemism “redirect society’s resources upward”. Time to start calling a spade a spade.

By: sonicninjakitty

sonicninjakitty — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:32:43 +0000

Dear Mr. Taibbi,

Here is some related breaking news–it’s about possible insider trading by former NY Fed Chair (and former GS Chair and current GS board member) Stephen Friedman:

http://dailybail.com/home/is-stephen-friedman-guilty-of-insider-trading.html

I hope you find it interesting and worthy of tracking!!

By: mx502

mx502 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:13:33 +0000

And now, 12/15/09, GS and the others snubbed the president of the United States because they had fog? If Detroit can drive to DC via Hybrid then the bankers can get on a horse if need be. Might as well have thrown their shoes at him.

By: anolmec

anolmec — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:47:52 +0000

Where you said “The difference is that Boeing and Electric Boat didn’t start the war”, well, umm, that would depend on which war you are referring.

By: suzannedecornelia

suzannedecornelia — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:31:12 +0000

Actually, I think it’s on the order of the BCCI scandal supersized, something never before seen. Prosecutors and reporters couldn’t grasp the enormity & complexity of the BBCI-with the heads of over 72 countries involved.

Ted Kopple said at the time on Nightline it was clear was that people were spending decades constructing these massive global financial crimes. And that was before the decade+ long effort to get rid of Glass Seagall funded in part by predator Sandy Weill at Citigroup/advocated by his great pal Phil Graham.

I wondered at the time why all the ink and $72M to go aft Clinton’s BJ and knew it was some kind of shell game. It was the gun to the head they needed to get the GS Act rescinded I believe as a rider on a Friday night….$72M was a biz expense picked up by taxpayers. A NECESSITY to start this entire sham. And in 2002 the second part was put in place.

And now they have the nuclear $1.14 quadrillion in totally unregulated derivatives.

That sneering contempt evidenced in that GS CEO weasel’s face is part they can’t touch this, and wait till ya’ll see what’s next.

Arianna Huffington said it’s clear that Obama’s admin has moved on to other priorities beyond getting Wall Street corralled–and that she needs a drink.

When I was younger used to walk around Paris and think how much I loved it but that there was something bloodthirsty in the French people for lopping off aristocratic heads while they ate whatever lunch they could scrap together…and cheered. Now I admire them.