The Kings of Wall Street have long coveted the absolute supremacy they now enjoy over the largest economy in the world. The debt is a problem, but vast change is necessary throughout the banking system. A radical change is needed on Wall Street.

It starts with the taxpayer’s attitude adjustment.

http://pacificgatepost.com/2009/08/america-end-your-fear-of-wall-street.html

– - – Quit fearing Wall Street.

In 1986, David Brown was convicted of passing inside information to Ivan Boesky on a takeover deal.[44] Robert Freeman, who was a senior Partner, the Head of Risk Arbitrage, and a protégé of Robert Rubin, was also convicted of insider trading, with his own account and with the firms.[45]

On November 11, 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Goldman Sachs, which earned $25 M from underwriting California bonds, had advised other clients to “short” those bonds.[46] Shorting is essentially betting that the state will default on the bonds, which serves to drive up the cost of the issue to the state.

In April 2009, Goldman’s former in house counsel John Squires who had moved to law firm Chadbourne & Parke sent a cease and desist letter to Michael Morgan founder of GoldmanSachs666.com for trademark violation.[47] The site has published negative articles and conspiracy theories on the firm and their alleged involvement in the global financial crisis. [48] Morgan sued Goldman Sachs. Morgan settled his case with Goldman Sachs, on June 19, 2009. As part of the settlement, Morgan agreed to put a disclaimer on the website saying the site was not affiliated with or approved by Goldman.[49][50]

During 2008 Goldman Sachs came under criticism for an apparent revolving-door relationship in which its employees and consultants have moved in and out of powerful US Government positions, where there may exist the potential for a conflict of interest. Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. The current chief economic adviser to President Obama, Lawrence Summers, was noted for receiving $5.2 million from hedge fund D.E. Shaw in 2008 and speaking fees (ranging from $45 thousand to $135 thousand per event) from banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch[51] at a time when he was expected to become the most influential financial official in the U.S. Government.[52] Former bank regulator William K. Black, appearing on Bill Moyers Journal on April 3, 2009, accused the financial industry of massive fraud, citing the role Tim Geithner played before being promoted to Treasury Secretary as well as the successful efforts of Alan Greenspan, former Goldman CEO Robert Rubin (Geithner’s mentor) and Larry Summers in the late 1990s to block regulation of the financial derivatives market.[53] According to Brooksley Born, former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Summers, Rubin and Greenspan blocked her efforts to regulate the derivatives market, on the grounds that the financial industry were objecting.[54] Born was then succeeded as head of the CFTC by former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Gensler, who stated that he “should have done more to rein in exotic financial instruments that have battered global markets”. [55] Additional controversy attended the selection of former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Geithner, despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration.[56]

In July 2009, Rolling Stone contributor Matt Taibbi published an article on Goldman Sachs titled, ‘The Great American Bubble Machine’,[57] where he condemns the company as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money,” and going on to assert that Goldman Sachs and similar companies have engineered and then profited off of every economic recession and bubble since The Great Depression. The piece generated much media attention and controversy, reportedly impelling Goldman Sachs to take expensive action to attempt to repair its public image.[58]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hHgmzvYLub_i2USI77OhwxdqRArQD9A4VLBG0

by Larry Rubinoff | Tuesday, August 18, 2009 in | comments (0)

I just could not resist this headline published in bloggingstocks.com: Goldman Sachs: We were never really in trouble

Are you through laughing? Here are a few more comments by GS and good for a few more laughs.

“Goldman president Gary D. Cohn told The New York Times that “We did not have a near-death experience,” and added that the government saved the financial industry as a whole but did not save Goldman Sachs.”

(ha ha ha ha)

The article quotes hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson who said

“he isn’t buying it: “Goldman’s sure got a lot of cojones (emphasis not in article) saying that it was never in any danger. What a crock!(again, emphasis mine. LR) Had AIG not been bailed out, a global financial meltdown would have ensued that would have taken down Goldman in a matter of days …”

;”Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) received billions in bailout money from its former CEO turned Treasury Secretary — both directly and through the bailout of American International Group (NYSE: AIG).”

You have to wonder why there was never more written on this fact and that more was never reported. Don’t inquiring minds want to know? Mine does and it sure didn’t look right to me from the beginning. By the way, the same could be said for the Sunday night funding of the Bear Stearns bailout by JP Morgan. Another move that included our buddy Paulson and the President of the N.Y. Federal Reserve Bank, yes, our current Secretary of the Treasury.

“But in response to criticism, Goldman remains defiant, insisting that it never had a problem…”

Yes, more laughs here.

“And on the matter of whether Goldman exerted undue influence on government policy? Tilson also is skeptical of the denials: “So Paulson talks to Blankfein 24 times in 6 days at the height of the crisis, and plays an instrumental role in channeling $13 billion of taxpayer money to Goldman via the AIG bailout … yet Paulson is claiming no conflict of interest…”

Read full article…click here I’m laughing so hard I can’t continue

http://www.goldmansachs666.com/

When if ever will there be an accounting?