The solution for you is simple enough. Don't buy GS. people forget buying a stock is pure speculation, just like rolling the dice in baccarat. In the long run the "house" will always win. In the case of GS, the partners are the house. And the house knows how to get paid.
That's true. But what about all the risk free near-zero percent money they get from the Fed? Not to mention all the purchasing of whatever "stuff they don't want" off their books by good ol' taxpayer dollars?
And the $5B they got from Buffett and Co., which they are paying 10% on along with the option to buy warrants at 115 over the next 5 years. You don't give someone that kind of deal unless you are "pissing your pants" desperate.
BINGO. As for many of the others on this thread, apply for a job on the Street if you think it's so easy and bankers are overpaid, partner up with your buddies and start your own firm, or stfu. These guys paid back the TARP, with interest. Turn your focus on the true deadbeats that actually needed the $ to survive. Why are we turning into a country that overlooks the losers to cast stones at the winners? As for banks "not making anything", that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. They serve clients who make things...are the clients paying them out of the goodness of their hearts or is it for an exchange of a service? Do doctors, lawyers or teachers "make anything"? No, of course not, they are in the service business.
Back in the day when GS was in its infancy there was no way to know they would become the financial giant they have today and it's quite possible that some company may be forming today that may evolve into the next giant that will knock GS off its perch. GS has evolved into the modern day giant through being good at what they do and by establishing a dominant position in the marketplace that has nothing to do with being good at what they do. You can only rise to the level of a GS by being successful in business first, acquiring your government second, and eliminating your competition third. GS damn near has a monopoly on the Investment Banking business, not because of their superior business skills but because of their political possessions. The Treasury and GS are one in the same, much the way JPM and the FED are one in the same. The banking system owns the government and with the absence of any real competition it is no surprise that GS is reaping huge rewards. Imagine how successful we all could be if only we had no competition.
Banks create money out of nothing, and are essentially stealing the wealth of the world in this manner. Watch this video: Money as Debt, part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC720Cl3N-0 Money as Debt, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f11De4_pGnw&feature=related Money as Debt, part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2rXCEEh8SE&feature=related Money as Debt, part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvH8Jw_ouR0&feature=related Money as Debt, part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kpSbkaD4tM&feature=related
the1, see attached (page 6, or any page for that matter) get some command on the facts. This is for M&A http://www.mergermarket.com/pdf/Press-Release-for-Financial-Advisers-H1-2009.pdf This is for capital raising http://news.hereisthecity.com/news/business_news/9416.cntns
I believe you have captured Mussolini's thoughts on Fascism quite nicely here. Just one correction though... GS WAS a IB, THEN became a BHC and is NOW a FHC. For a "brief" period there - I was waiting for a branch to open near me so I could setup an account (would have been the safest place on earth to hold money from what I could see). lol! funny thread
GS would not be around today if it weren't for the US government. End of story, really. They would've gone belly-up, same as Lehman. For that matter, the idea that any of the big banks are true private companies operating in a free market is laughable. Most should by all rights be bankrupt, and government policy is to help these guys take fat spreads and profits on everything so they can "earn their way out of trouble." What on earth do you think TBTF means? It's nothing but corporate welfare, i.e. socialism of the worst kind. In the absence of government support, regulatory capture, and Fed subsidies, GS can pay whatever they want, or make whatever profits they can, and nobody has any basis to complain. But that's not the world we live in.