Senate Hearing: Sen. Levin vs. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs

http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com/ WASHINGTON - Concluding a two-year bipartisan investigation, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Tom Coburn M.D., R-Okla., Chairman and Ranking Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, today released a 635-page final report (PDF, 6MB) on their inquiry into key causes of the financial crisis. The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
http://levin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStreetCrisis_04...

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[aaronfromhastings]

Hey, Blankfein, could ya really squirm and make it look like you're really embarrassed and struggling? Do ya think you could do that? Then all those fuckin idiot blue collar workers will feel like justive is served and we can get back to business as usual. See ya in the restaurant after. Remember to act really worried.

[Ralphdraw3]

@aaronfromhastings Goldman Sachs FRAUD Charges Filed By SEC Over Subprime ... Jun 16, 2010 – The government has accused Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold . ... ..Simon Johnson: Our Pecora Moment Has Finally Arrived With Fraud Charges Against Goldman Sachs

We have waited long and patiently for our Ferdinand Pecora moment - a modern equivalent of the episode when a tough prosecutor from New York..

[ContraCommando]

Fuck these old ass white nerds.

[Ralphdraw3]

@ContraCommando You have just inherited a country where half of the people live in poverty; 54 million children live in poverty; and Wall Street executives make a salary of between $10 million and $100 million a year.

[anasthase100]

.

that's a tyranny made by Jewish banksters

[Ralphdraw3]

@anasthase100 BTW Senator Levin is Jewish - and he is slamming ( in hearing after hearing) corruption on Wall Street.

[dh363msb]

Sorry, but Blankfein is absolutely right here. It's not a conflict of interest at all.

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina But I think you're right and I should avoid going to the US for a while after I've posted such comments on the internet ;)

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina It is no commi talk. The deregulation of the markets in the US started in the 80s. I don't think that the US was communist before that. But you can still believe in safe CDOs, rating agencies telling the truth, and biddings on food, the collapse of currencies or nations.

Exchange Supervisory Authority is also a regulating tool in the stock exchange. And nobody's complaining about it.

[BobDoubelina]

@zorax15

Hmmm so you want to regulate the markets...... The gouvernment should control/watch..

That is not "free market economy"

Sounds more like commie-talk to me ;-)

Not long ago any demands for such things as federal regulations of ANY market would have triggered the HCUA/HUAC....

Nah. It is culturally inconceivable that the U_S would take any serious regulatory steps on its markets...

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina what I don't get is why there haven't been any changes made to prevent perverted betting and transactions with high risk for the future. In fact nothing has changed. Not anything that lead to the desaster in 2008 has been changed and the financial sector can still count on being bailed out because they are too big to fail. It is just disgusting. And the mentality that caused the propblems is presented by Blankfein. That's the reason I'm so disgusted with his answers.

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina but it is my opinion that GS were only interested in their own profits and shit on their costumers even though they knew that the customer actually made a bad deal. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. It just fits into the picture the financial sector presents when looking at the CDOs that were created and rated AAA.

But to be fair it is not the bankers fault, it is the politicians fault how deregulated the market for decades and now struggle with the outcome.

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina it is not that easy. There are many papers that are underrated and there are many papers that are highly overrated. For someone who is not into the whole stock exchange envirnonment 24/7 it is hard to tell which one is which. And this is the part were counselling comes into play. And in my opinion it is the banks respnsibility to inform their customers about the background of the papers. This was obviously not done. I don't say the GS acted illegal by not counselling

[BobDoubelina]

@zorax15 People just think "Hey 22 c/$ sounds risky, but he is offering it to me, so must be good".

No. Bankers will present you the facts and you have to draw some conclusions yourself.

But I agree: IF they said to the customers who wanted low risk papers "These are the ones to go for", then they were acting wrong. But then its bad counselling. Still nothing illegal with the short sells.

However I would've asked my banker why they would sell the stuff at that price if it was a low risk

[BobDoubelina]

@zorax15 That is what most people dont't get.

Bankers speak in a diferent language. They describe the obvious, but don't say it.

Their way of saying "Hey, the paper is crap" is : "We offer you the paper for 22 cents on the dollar".

If I want to sell my car and someone is willing me to offer "an apple and an egg", that doesn't mean literally a sales proposal. Its just that person's way of saying "Your car is crap".

[zorax15]

@BobDoubelina question is if GS told the costumers the papers ware bad OR they intentially did not tell them so they could get rid of the crap and additionaly make money by betting against them.

This is no consulting I would expect a bank to do. In fact it isn't consulting at all just pure greed.

But as long as long as the financial sector is not regulated there will be a good chance that we will see things like this and wallstreet caused depression in the future again

[ImaginedWriter]

Someone kill Blankfein.