But again we're comparing baseball to finance. As much as we'd like it to be an apples-to-apples comparison they are vastly different. I was only comparing one aspect: the fact that one organization can be successful a statistically inordinate number of times.
"Best and brightest" can only be part of the explanation behind those results. LTCM also had the best and brightest. There are best and brightest people losing money in trading every day. But Goldman never loses. Why is that ?
ZH has some good stuff. Some crazy stuff too, but I would prefer to be presented with clean, transparent data and crazy-minded commentary than the other way around. As for the stats, I don't care how many of the "best and brightest" make their way to GS. Those numbers (and the quarter before, and the one before that) are not possible unless you're being given an advantage. If they weren't, other firms would have similar numbers.
It's a well documented and public fact that Geithner spoke with three people daily/nightly during the crisis: Blankfein, Dimon, and the President. He would be talking to the 1st two, put them on hold to take a call from O, and then back to those guys. I am sure that has all changed now wink wink.
See, that's the thing: it's not clean data. It's data that is changed to fit the context of the post. The only way for the other firms to have similar numbers is if they have similar people, and they don't. You are discounting the impact people have on running a business, which is where your point is failing. People are the life-or-death of a company's performance, you cannot marginalize them.
Do you not understand the difference between being a market maker and being a speculator? How many losing days do you think Oanda has? I'd bet their winning % is even higher than Goldman's. It's not like GS is scalping e-mini's. Their primary trading biz is making markets for customers in illiquid fixed income securities and derivatives, program trading, currency swaps -all trades with an embedded few to several tick edge. So yes by the random law of averages if one gets edge, edge, edge they will print $, $, $......
Show me this documentation that is so public. Links please showing those were the [only]people he talked to daily. You also forgot Bernanke, which he should have been talking to daily. You've just demonstrated how FUD gets started.
I keep saying...somebody break up these fuckers. The stock market is rigged & broken. These crooks have been given a monopoly at manipulating prices & ripping off those with less cash than them. I can only guess why the Fidelity's, Schwabs of the world don't come out and demand action but it must be because they're all a bunch of eunuchs sucking at whatever end of the market's titty thay can get. These crooks are completely fucking up the country.