I read in Trader magazine that Goldman Sachs has gotten to the point of matching up 50% of the NYSE trades. Like, are they going to take over the NYSE? It appears that they get a bird's eye view of the orders coming and going. Who regulates them? Are they a bunch of glorified thugs in three-piece suits pulling down civilization-depleting 9-figure annual paydays? Where are the market check(s) and balances here? I can all-but-guarantee you that their top earners, collectively, are not providing value to the globe commensurate to their compensation.
Because Goldman Sachs is the worlds biggest market maker: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106942 and 2/3 of their profits come from this.
And guess who J Thain's previous employer was before heading over to NYSE? How many GS shares shares do you think he has since he and Thornton were second to Hank a few years ago? Hmm... unless he has unloaded them, can you say "conflict of interest?" And GS bough SLK in 2000/2001 if memory serves. But GS is GS.
The Wikipedia link was good. I liked the link at the end of the Wikipedia entry about the GS attempts to control major highways for profit. It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I don't agree with this; in the right hands, great power can be wielded very wisely and generatively. However, anytime great power is gathered in one arena, there is the real risk of that arena becoming a petri dish of selfishness and corruption. Cases in point: Many African countries. (Bill Gates said the number one problem facing Africa is malaria; Bono said it was corruption. I think Bono has it right.) A certain stink seems to be wafting from the GS petri dish. It's up to the high-level decision-makers at GS the future directions they will choose.