Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been named Person of the Year by the Financial Times . The investment bank ânot only navigated the 2008 global financial crisis better than others on Wall Street,â the paper writes, âbut is set to make record profits, and pay up to $23BN in bonuses to its 31,700 staff.â But while the FT may agree that Blankfein is doing âGodâs work,â others view the bank as indicative of exactly what is wrong with Wall Street. Indeed, Blankfein himself apologized last month for Goldman Sachsâ role in the financial crisis. And Goldman Sachsâs trading practices are currently under investigation by the federal government. In response to the FT âs decision to honor Blankfein, noted bank analyst Christopher Whalen has canceled his subscription to the paper. âMr. Blankfein and his colleagues at Goldman Sachs, in my view, have done more to damage the reputations of global financial professionals than any other organization in 2009, yet you applaud them,â he wrote in a letter to the paper. âNot only is your suggestion ridiculous and repugnant, but it illustrates to me the fact that the FT is part of the problem in global finance, not as one would hope and expect, part of the solution.â http://industry-news.org/2009/12/25...ein-named-financial-times-person-of-the-year/ Why is it so rare for people in finance to speak up like this?
â..... but it illustrates to me the fact that the FT is part of the problem in global finance, not as one would hope and expect, part of the solution.â fuck him and the analyst comments he rode in on. Obama won a Peace Prize. This is a call to action for GS. lmao, give him a break. If Lloyd was black, this would be the change we'd be waiting for. [sarcasm]
At that level of the game it is all about selling size any way you can, essentially running the most elaborate legal cons allowed. These guys are not "traders" in the way that most understand the word. So, in that sense to have Goldman's CEO named the best con man on the street is entirely appropriate as it happens to be true for 2009. They conned their clients, the largest institutions of the world, the US government, the Fed, and you and me, the taxpayer! The FT hasn't done them any favors by pointing that out. Incidentally, I don't fault GS as they just took advantage of the system to maximize their profit. As individuals they may not be paragons of virtue but what do you expect from Wall Street? You don't go to work on Wall Street to be Mother Theresa, you go there to make money, period. Those at fault are those who had a duty to protect the interests of the American people and institutions from the con men but instead facilitated the con, ie people at the Fed like Geithner, the SEC, and people in Congress like Dodd, Frank, Schumer, and Graham amongst others. These folks aren't outraged due to the cost that the American people have had to bear but rather are agitated by the fact that they, so used to conning the American people themselves, were for once on the receiving end.
I wonder if he realizes how much of a weasel he comes off as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVTWHtCsI_s
Good video, thanks for posting. Ahh the good old days, he worked at Yankee Stadium when he was 13 and offers up a lesson in work ethics. Today, fat chance of doing any work at 13, maybe @ 15 you can work at MCD but you'll never have the opportunity to find out what you are made of because it is a dumb down job at any level.
People in Congress like Dodd, Frank, Schumer, and Graham on the receiving end? Not so sure about that, unless it's the receiving end of lobbyist money. Sure Congress is to blame too, but who has enough money to buy Congress? I'm not sure how the FT pick works. Is it like Time Mag, where even the Ayatollah Khomeni made it?
No matter how it works, it's almost laughable that the den of thieves, Bernanke and Blankfein, made it to the covers of time and ft. The only thing missing is the cross hairs.