So Goldman created an investment it knew would fail and sold it to investors? Sounds like “The Producers.”
Here’s what Goldman can do as a goodwill gesture:
What if everyone currently underwater in a mortgage were given a short position of 1,000 shares of Goldman stock, right now?
That could help a lot of people–especially if Goldman takes a nice drop down. Thank you, GS.
Or they could give 1,000 shares of GS stock to screwed over mortgage holders once the stock bottomed. That way, we can all rise from the dead at the same time.
Goldman says it’s innocent. But that’s standard comeback fare in the face of a fraud charge. Here’s my bet: As Enron was to California’s energy crisis, Goldman was to California’s subprime mess.
Goldman’s only defense is based on greed: Hey if the housing market didn’t collapse we’d all be winners!
Yeah, sure. But then again it was the complicated credit swaps it concocted that created the circumstances for the housing bubble to burst.
Yes,I know that Goldman did not create the subprime loan market. It didn’t loan to people who weren’t qualified, or loan on properties that were overvalued. But the way it profited on the loans as they went down is emblematic of the greed that has destroyed our society, and nearly destroyed our financial system. That is the irresponsible behavior that comes out of a capitalism run amok. There will always be losers in a trade. But when the losses are so massive, we all need to think about the greater good.
But just listen to the testimony today of the Goldman leaders. McCain put it to Blankfein when he led him down a path of questions revealing how GS made out on the mortgage derivatives, then got $10 billion in TARP bailout money, and then personally paid himself a $9 million bonus. Does anyone wonder why people distrust Wall Street?