Goldman Sachs does not take risks, nor do they "earn" their money... they are essentially thieves who STEAL it legally from us. Earning your money would imply that you actually take a real risk, the way that traders on this forum do every day. They don't actually do that. Any so-called "risks" that they take are automatically subsidized by the government if things go really wrong, with the help of their pals in office. WE are actually the ones taking the real risk, through them. If their bets pay off, they win and pay themselves out handsomely. If they don't... they still win, and we cover their losses. That's not "earning", that's outright blatant THEFT, and it only works because they own half of the government. For the record, I'm not one of the ones complaining about this by the way... that's just the way the world works, and to expect it to be different is pointless. But please, let's not be stupid enough to think that these guys are "earning" anything. They don't deserve credit for anything other than manipulating and corrupting the system to their advantage, and while I think it's pointless to complain about it, I hardly think it's something to be admired.
That's right, not even you. You don't know if they used ANY money they got from the govt, which btw they were FORCED to take. The facts: -Goldman was converted to a commercial bank and forced to take a loan from the govt. -Goldman paid the loan back, with substantial interest as early as it was allowed too. -Goldman has offered to pay-back the warrants the govt. has attached to the original loan but the US govt will not allow them to pay them back at this time. Don't get me wrong - I don't think IBs contribute as much to society as they themselves think they do, but I also am pragmatic and don't walk around with tin-foil on my head spouting Marxism thinking everyone should make the same paycheck while doing different things.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Treasury claims Treasury works for Goldman Sachs In an interview in July 2009, former Assistant Secretary of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts was asked "Does the US Secretary of the Treasury work for the people or does he work for the banking system on Wall Street?" to which he replied, "He works for Goldman Sachs
Sometimes life is funnier than fiction. They really had no choice because if only certain banks took the loans, then you knew who the weak ones were immediately. <iframe src="http://www.businessinsider.com/embed?id=cdb9b91400650b4a5893a000&width=600&height=430" width="600" height="430" border="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
OK. I've heard them justify the amounts they make because they "work really hard around there." I've seen people in manufacturing shops work harder and sacrifice much more. The real people who are hurting are people doing jobs in places where you would be too much of a baby to even step foot in. I doubt you've actually ever seen a manufacturing company and see how people do some "real" work for a change. I'm so sorry that's such an unpopular view around here, probably because nobody has been exposed to anything like it. I'm lucky and have a college education and am damn grateful for it so I don't have to work like that for the rest of my life. I don't see the rules don't change for anyone else so why should they for a bunch of banks that supposedly "hold up the economy" and are "too big to fail." Sorry, but fuck off. Not my problem. I'd much rather see the machinist or the guy making transmission casings busting his ass make a little more than some pig on wall street. Sorry but if you think they deserve all that money then you have some serious fucking cranial damage.
Click on the links in that embed - the PDFs are insightful as to what went on during the TARP milieu. And face it, Paulson goes trout fishing with his bare hands. He basically told the head of each large bank that they were his bitch. If they didn't do what he asked Paulson was going to show them how bad they really fucked up by revoking their charter and dissolving their board. I give him an 8/10 - a bit sloppy on the dismount but he got the job done.
But see you don't get it: they started with a lot of money, leveraged it to gain more money speculating. You cannot fault them for that. There is one single reason they make as much money today as they do: risk management. If they made a bad enough move they wouldn't exist.