"Goldman's new money machine: warehouses By stockpiling aluminum, Goldman is profiting, and creating tension" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43931226/ns/business-us_business/
"SEC Probes Goldman Over Libyan Dealings" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576497950009027990.html?mod=business_newsreel
The day GS is closed, bankrupt or closed, humanity will prosper. Until then we are all destined to suffer.
I doubt GS engages in anything worse than any other firm of its size and influence. The problem isn't specific to GS, it is to the pressure that is put on these firms, particularly firms that believe they are some sort of deity. It is a societal US problem, because so many of us rely on stock prices and indirectly corporate profits to fund our retirements. As the US population has aged, corporations reflect our moral standards or lack-thereof. GS is a mirror that is a reflection of us as a society. Look at other countries where government takes more of a role of taking care of a population like France or England. You think french or brits are more moral than the people of the US as a population? Probably not. Put the same kind of pressure of them, and you would see the same thing there. I have said it a thousand times, there is a correct balance between socialism and capitalism in every functioning society. In the US it is terribly low. Funny, as debates on us being bankrupted by social programs endure. How does France do it, but not Greece? I don't understand. It is hard for a people that take pride in excellence to accept anything but the best. That, together with the above opinion, and GS probably crossed a line from which they may never be able to recover from. "Once you go down the dark path, forever will will it rule your destiny." - Yoda
The roots of firms like GS have already been embedded in late capitalism. If GS dissolves, there will always be something to take its place. Technology has made it unbelievably easy (and useful) for capital to move freely and consolidate where it can generate the highest return, irrespective of any negative externalities this creates. If the greatest return requires control over sovereign states or re-engineering political institutions or even culture, this will occur in one way or another, simply because it is possible. [i.e., "technological rationality"] When it comes to big institutions that grease the wheels of commerce (e.g., finance, resource extraction, etc.), oligopoly is here to stay. It's the only future possible for so-called developed nations.