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The United States of Goldman-Sachs |
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Written by Chet
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
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If you read nothing else about America's economic problems over the past couple years, read Matt Taibbi's piece in the Rolling Stone about the banksters and their assault on the American taxpayer. On January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis. The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses — meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly commensurate with what they received during the bubble years. Still, the troops were worried: There were rumors that Dr. Ballsachs, bowing to political pressure, might be forced to scale the number back. After all, the country was broke, 14.8 million Americans were stranded on the unemployment line, and Barack Obama and the Democrats were trying to recover the populist high ground after their bitch-whipping in Massachusetts by calling for a "bailout tax" on banks. Maybe this wasn't the right time for Goldman to be throwing its annual Roman bonus orgy. Not to worry, Blankfein reassured employees. "In a year that proved to have no shortage of story lines," he said, "I believe very strongly that performance is the ultimate narrative." Translation: We made a shitload of money last year because we're so amazing at our jobs, so fuck all those people who want us to reduce our bonuses. RollingStone.com (and then go buy yourself a subscription. It's $10 per year and worth every penny.)
Do yourself a favor and go read that whole Rolling Stones piece. Sure, Taibbi is a little over-the-top with his foul language, but he knows his stuff, he communicates it well and he gets his points across. If you read his whole story you will walk away knowing something today about America's financial situation that you did not know yesterday. I promise. The Obama administration is clearly not without blame on this whole deal. I still resent that Obama's economic team includes way too many people from the Goldman-Sachs world. The problem started a long time ago with financial deregulation, but we don't seem to be learning from our mistakes. Taibbi for Treasury Secretary.
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