Unfortunately, it IS your problem. You see, they have set it up so that if they fail, they take you down with them, and you suffer even more than they do. That's how they get away with it. As Clint Eastwood once said in Unforgiven, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." It's all about what you can get away with... and these guys can get away with a lot. I do agree that people who think that these guys "deserve" any more because they somehow work harder are a bunch of idiots. GS doesn't work any harder than anyone else, they just own the system because they are a lot smarter than Joe SixPack, and a lot more ruthless. That's why they get paid very handsomely to take risks with our money. The world ain't fair.... never has been. Getting mad at this fact is completely pointless, and will only cause you stress.
Not true. If they made a bad enough move, we would bail them out. They will NEVER cease to exist, and there is no risk that they can take which will put them out of business. That's why they are thieves gambling with OUR money, and paying themselves the profits. Heads they win, tails the taxpayers lose.
No you don't get it. They first made the mistake of lending to people who couldn't afford it, all while "loser" Americans decided to take the loans they couldn't afford. Then investment banks needed to insure their shitty loans through companies that didn't even have the money to back it up or plan ahead. Oh but don't blame them, considering the mathematical models they used on credit default swaps assumed crazy things like a bunch of people not defaulting at the same time and house prices continuing to climb. Never mind all that. Meanwhile everyone is getting trigger happy on all the money they're making and failing to see the true risk ahead of them. If a bridge collapses what happens to the engineers who designed it? Oh yeah they lose their license. What about the investment banker who collapses an entire economy? More money. That's bullshit.
I think Gordon Gecko explained it best: "The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons; And what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own." "We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, price of a paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat when everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it." "Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you, Buddy? It's the free market, and you're part of it. Yeah, you got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I still got a lot to teach you." "It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a Zero Sum game - somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred - from one perception to another. Like magic." There is no point in complaining about this. GS and others like them are the new nobility for our modern age - you ain't gonna change it. The only thing you can do is make sure that you don't end up as a serf.
A corporate welfare check from uncle sam in the face of imbending blow up does not count as risk management. Though, I'd like to be able to rely on that kind of risk management. I'd be far more willing to take big risks if I had that backing. Yes, I'm sure IBs will learn from their mistakes this time around...
Makloda is a fascist corporatist who sucks the dick of Goldman and any other poor excuse for a risk manager that might happen to have its toe in the government whirlpool. I own Goldman stock and so should everyone. Its like owning a 30 year bond. They are guaranteed to make money and fleece. But to think they are pillars of capitalism and virtue is pure nonsense
I think it is naive at best to believe that GS was forced to take TARP money. That was just their way of putting a positive spin on it. As for them paying back the TARP money -complete bullshit.
The problem at Goldman Sachs is that the management and Board of Directors has no concept that it is the shareholders that own the company. And that their duty is first, and foremost, to the shareholders, not to the employees. It is well known that with the sheer number of people unemployed in the financial industry, Goldman would not have a problem filling their office towers with highly talented people at less than $100k/seat. Why then, are they paying $500k+/seat? Why is management and the Board blowing the money, that belongs to the shareholders, on excessive compensation? Why do the shareholders tolerate being paid a few bucks a year, at most, in dividend, if indeed, GS is this hugely profitable enterprise, while the employees and the managers walk away with everything?? There is no other business on earth that half of the profits are allocated to the employee 'bonus pool'. Not manufacturing. Not technology. Not transportation. For practically every American worker, bonuses are things to be earned, not entitlements, and it is at the sole discretion of the owners, whether or not these payments are to be made. And if you own GS shares -- don't kid yourselves, they will throw shareholders under the bus the moment business turns down. They don't give a shit about shareholders today, they didn't give a shit about shareholders in the past, and they certainly won't in the future.
Then why did they convert to a Bank Holding Company, which puts them under the watchful eye of the Fed and requires they pay FDIC insurance premiums. Did someone force them to do that to?
If GS hadn't reached into the taxpayer's pocket we'd all be sitting here admiring their performance, whether it's partially derived from inside information or not. They blew themselves up last year and if it wasn't for you and I they wouldn't even exist. I'm not the average American sitting on a couch doing nothing. I own my own business. I pave my own path. I don't assume too much leverage and I avoid taking on too much risk. If I didn't and blew myself up I wouldn't get a fucking dime from GS but they sure as hell got my money. And who exactly was the recipient of that $1T the Fed handed out? No one knows and it's pure speculation but could it have been GS? No bank was protected by Paulson in the way GS was.