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Blankfein Defends Goldman From Ever-Increasing Desire To See The Mollusk Chopped Up

Tyler Durden's picture




 

One of the primary underthemes these days in the regulatory and academic community is the discussion of not just whether or not to break up Goldman (moot: the company has no place continuing to exist in its current form which is essentially a Holding Company for the Federal Reserve, Treasury, the White House, Congress and the Senate), but how to do it. Apparently, Goldman's apparatchiks have realized that the tide of public anger is shifting from a broad, blind anger aimed at the generic concept of "Goldman Sachs", into a definitive policy approach that recommends the immediate tear up of Goldman into various, less than monopolist organizations (Ma Bell ring a...well, bell?). It is impending for the "greater good" of the country and society that this debate becomes front and center immediately. After all, the suddenly very devout oracular priests at the top floor of One New York Plaza must be fully aware of the scripture prophesying that when the oceanic ecosystem would be threatened by one omnipotent, middleclassovorous squid, the vengeful god proceeded to smite it with great vengeance and furious anger (or something like that - we hope to stand corrected by the one "true" intermediary of God's real message these days: Goldman Sachs).

So Goldman is now on the defensive. Lloyd proceeds to define the situation in a tidy little, $24 trillion, package: “Our business is very complex, and I won’t deny that, but
it’s far, far simpler than most of the competitors." It is indeed: no risk and infinite return. Any questions? Too bad Goldman can not approach some VC's with that business model - they may be able to even get more than a couple million in post money valuation, even in today's frigid venture capital climate.

Yet is Goldman's Googlesque admonition that they do no bad, ever, correct (aside from the fact of whether being knighted Viceroy of the Milky Way has any ethical implications to it, of course)?

Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in Cambridge, said in a Bloomberg radio interview
today that Goldman Sachs’s assets nearly quadrupled over the
last decade. “What have we gained from a societal perspective
from Goldman Sachs becoming four times bigger? Nothing,” said
Johnson, a former chief economist for the International Monetary
Fund. “Break Goldman Sachs up into four pieces, let them choose
how they break up
.”

Amen Simon, Amen. (see, we can be religious too). And by, we, I of course refer to Zero Hedge as being that ever hurtful "pop press" as defined by Goldman's uberlord:

“Most of the activities we do, and you can be confused if
you read the pop press
, serve a real purpose,” Blankfein said.
“It wouldn’t be better for the world or the financial system”
to change the firm’s activities, he said. “We pretty much stuck to our investment-banking
knitting,” Blankfein said. “That’s why we have 30,000 people
and many of our competitors have well over 200,000 or 300,000
people.”

Well, that, and also controlling the abovementioned entities (being the pop press, and our readers having a short attention span, let's relist them: the Federal Reserve, Treasury, the White House, Congress and the Senate). If you include all the employees at these institutions, then the total headcount msuddenly rises quite a bit higher than merely 3,000. In fact, Mr. Blankfein confirms this very effectively: "Blankfein said that the New York-based firm’s change to a
bank under the supervision of the Federal Reserve means that
there are dozens of people who work for the New York Fed who
come to work in our offices every day.

In fact, we would not be surprised if said NY Fed gentlemen have a dedicated Bloomberg terminal at 85 Broad and One NY Plaza (at least 4 screens a pop, as we all know these true men of galactic control hubris are BSDs), a turret straight to the Treasury and JP Morgan, whichever is less redundant, and about $1 trillion in AUM a piece. After all, running the world takes some serious taxpayer money.

 

 

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Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:52 | 126067 Careless Whisper
Careless Whisper's picture

I love it when Lloyd "a force for good" Blankfein gives an interview.

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:42 | 126807 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The difference between the 1700's and now is that then we met in the street with pikes, axes and torches.

Today we gather digitally over intertubes under brown paper bags and wax poetically about about our collaboration of evidence showing how we're being fucked by an overclass.

We're a bunch of pussies. Our country, our future, our freedom, our liberty is being stripped from us and we're sitting here hitting the send button on blog comments.

Time to order a new duvet fuckers.

What the F is wrong with us.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:53 | 126070 deadhead
deadhead's picture

By the way, Lloyd, you are still a hypocrite in regards the $22 billion FDIC TLGP money outstanding.  You said you wish it was zero. You have about $22 billion in a bonus pool.

Go out to the cap markets like a big boy, borrow the money at market rates, and pay off the TLGP dough.

The Goldman Sachs newly effectuated PR policy is working out quite well I must say.  Putting yourselves in the same company with God, Jesus (your guy in London), a force for good, showing up to the office daily for social purposes..... about the only thing anybody related to Goldman has done wrong in the past few months is bitch about waiting in line at a charity event.

It's gonna get a lot uglier Lloyd because you have phucked with the American people just a bit too far and they are now becoming more and more pissed.

 

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:40 | 126172 JR
JR's picture

And of course the garments that are coming from Goldman's investment-bank knitting are backed by the largest military force in the world.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:24 | 126247 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

The wife has to wait in line at charity events. The husband doesn't. Then again, he's on the receiving end.  

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:55 | 126077 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

well computers aren't people (hft,slp,dp networks) and they do seem to extract far more 'productivity' per employee/core than the competition. besides if you broke them up into 4 parts, it's likely they would just buy each other back....

congrats on the upgrade to 'pop press' i'll rate ZH outperform.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:56 | 126080 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Question in the scenario of GS and the Fed or blankfein and bernanke, who is pitching and who is catching?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:03 | 126096 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

LMAO

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:10 | 126108 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Lizzy;
What they do isn't pitching and catching. In fact what they do isn't even called sex anymore. Thank's to uncle Billy from Arkansas.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:58 | 126083 Sqworl
Sqworl's picture

TD: Bravo..It will not be stopped by lawmakers, it must be stopped by the people.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:00 | 126084 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

They don't need to be broken up, they just need to have their lips surgically removed from various gov't teats. It's a hedge fund, treat it as such.

I think the break up talk is just distraction from the teat issue.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:28 | 126154 Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

That's what it is, isn't it?  That's it exactly.

Massive government entitlement programs for the richest and the poorest squeezing the life out of the middle class entirely.

Government nowadays is nothing but a giant pinata for everyone to extract the taxpayers' money.  Big companies hit it with their lobbying sticks and big unions and lower-class political organization like Acorn hit it with their sticks and out drops our childrens' future.

Exactly the opposite of what the Founding Fathers intended.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:26 | 126255 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

What is sickening is most still think it it is right vs. left. No no no, it is them agsinst us. All their little phony issues set up to divide and distract make me sick.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:59 | 126085 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I wonder, is Blankfein a member of "The Family"?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 22:11 | 126687 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Nope. Just part of the help.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:02 | 126088 Sqworl
Sqworl's picture

Firefighters in India being trained as snake catchers, we could use them here to regulate and catch all the snakes on the street!

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 06:51 | 126887 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

We need Samuel L Jackson:

"I'm tired of these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!"

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:02 | 126092 Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

Kill it with fire.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:19 | 126138 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

c'mon, his nom de plume is Tyler Durden...

...Kill it with C4, fuck 4 pieces, lets get it into millions...

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:49 | 126293 Careless Whisper
Careless Whisper's picture

want to get rid of those bankstas? there's an app for that:

http://toucharcade.com/2009/10/09/bailout-wars-gamelofts-topical-castle-defense/

Check it out, I give good link.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:42 | 126379 Dont Taze Me Bro
Dont Taze Me Bro's picture

rofls

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:06 | 126100 Artful_Dodger
Artful_Dodger's picture

In some respects one can imagine that Goldman could ending up taking the axe to save the Fed...

Why isn't anyone speaking about JPM...or are they small in comparison? Certainly the derivatives beast lurking in their chambers is big enough to do some serious damage.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:42 | 126178 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

BAC, JPM, GS, WFC, and UBS: they sold the CDS' to each other, and GS is leverages 1000:1 with their paper.

Secondly, GS has now achieved something they don't really want: Name Recognition.

When it comes to people being pissed, if they have a target, you better hope your name isn't it.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:10 | 126527 Bolweevil
Bolweevil's picture

One at a time boys, one at a time. Either that or they'll all do themselves in simultaneously.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:09 | 126107 Fish Gone Bad
Fish Gone Bad's picture

The sole purpose of Goldman Sachs is to make everything more expensive for everyone.  Goldman Sachs is by definition, a cancer on society.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:04 | 126519 Problem Is
Problem Is's picture

"Goldman Sachs is by definition, a cancer on society."

Yes Fish Gone Bad, there must be environmental toxins causing cancer at 85 Broad Street.

Working at G Sucks turned the last two CEOs into malignant cue balls...

Paulson and Blank-dick did not even need chemo to make their hair fall out...

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:11 | 126112 Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

"the company has no place continuing to exist in its current form"

The company has no place continuing to exist - period. Goldman doesn't need to broken-up as much as it needs to be ELIMINATED. It's a USELESS, WORTHLESS TURD.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:19 | 126132 SDRII
SDRII's picture

The ultimate PD - no way it is touched unless tax receipts are suddenly expected to turn up and the bad theater known as the auctions is wound down materially. Probability ~0%

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:17 | 126234 JohnKing
JohnKing's picture

They are just a welfare recipient, a drain on productivity. Make 100 million in a trading DAY?! WTF, show me any productive company doing those kinds of numbers.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:14 | 126124 Green Sharts
Green Sharts's picture

In case anybody hasn't seen the funny bit SNL did on Goldman Sachs.  The public disgust with them is growing.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/really-with-seth-and-...

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:44 | 126181 deadhead
deadhead's picture

that hit the number 2 slot on huffpo earlier this week.

i will continue to remind my fellow zh'ers that the huffpo obama base is very, very upset with the handling of the banks and wall st.... it's one thing for obama to ignore the conservative/libertarian factions who are pissed off at the fed, treasury, wall st complex, but he cannot ignore his base.

the only thing stopping the massive tipping point on the banks, Fed etc mess is the preoccupation with health care.  meanwhile, the banks are minting it in the meantime.

 

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 06:43 | 126885 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

Probably reverse psychology - that which is scarce is more in demand.

No thanks on mercury and preservatives purposely weakening immune systems and causing sterility, with a presidential exclusion for corporate liabilities related to side effects.  Did you see the cheerleader video?  It's almost as if they purposely want to weaken immune systems and make people infertile - but that would just be crazy talk?

Although if they received the same shots as the German soldiers, it didn't contain the mercury and non FDA approved additives.  In that case it would be the same line by George/Lloyd from Seinfeld:

Lloyd: Seemingly. Seemingly, to the untrained eye, I can fully understand how you got that impression. What looked like pushing...what looked like knocking down...was a safety precaution! In a fire, you stay close to the ground, am I right? And when I ran out that door, I was not leaving anyone behind! Oh, quite the contrary! I risked my life making sure that exit was clear. Any other questions?

FIREMAN: How do you live with yourself?

Lloyd: Its not easy.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:17 | 126130 lsbumblebee
lsbumblebee's picture

I've read that you can't kill cancer, you can only treat it. Maybe if we submit Lloyd to massive doses of radiation...

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 18:06 | 126418 tallystick
tallystick's picture

  Cancer is nothing more than cells that stop responding to the signals the rest of the body is sending it.  A rogue cell if you will.  Cells go rogue all the time and the immune system eliminates them  When cells go rogue and become cancerous, they change their metabolism from aerobilc to anaerobic so they thrive on sugar. Just the elimination of corn syrup and refined sugurs alone greatly reduces cancer rates.   Now consider all the carcinogens in the modern environment: pesticides, preservatives such as sodium benzoate, junk in processed food, copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup in the diet.  What does that give you?  A immunocompromised, over fed, under nurished population that is highly susceptable to cancer. Tthe most effective cancer cure is not widely used.  It is also inexpensive.  It is MUCH more profitable for big pharma to "treat" a cancer with uber expensive GE medical scans and Genentech drugs etc, over many years than to use the known inexpensive cure. Remember, cancer is a lifestyle disease.  We didn't have these prevalence rates 100 years ago, and the main contributor to the higher lifespan figures we now have are actually do to improved child mortality. The modern medical establishment tries to paper over the poor lifestyle with technological fixes, but the simple truth is that reversion to a natural, healthy lifestyle is the best treatment for cancer in all but the latest stages of the disease.

 

Unfortunately our corporate masters OWN the medical school curricullum and are incorporating their treatments into government mandated healthcare so they can profit while we slave away to pay for their over-priced bogus healthcare.

 

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:17 | 126133 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

dream on!!! ... there is no way gs i gonna give up what they have built over the last 100 years ... n why should they: there is no credible alternative ... we r all a bunch soggy couch potatoes with no interest in real democrazy n feeling happy merely by hearing 'america is great' like some ufckin al-kaida battle cry ... only real democrazy would ever break the political monopoly in place here right now.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:30 | 126534 Problem Is
Problem Is's picture

From: GS Public Relations

To: Disinformation Program Team Members

Subject: Management Recommendations to GS Sock Puppet Program:

Attention Team Members,

Alternate postings using bad grammar, intermittent capitalization and  "urban" street language usage to decrease similarity in "anonymous" postings. These methods are intended to give the impression of multiple sources.

Probability department recommends utilizing the above tactics by random number generated methods.

Richard Dickfein

VP Communications

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 21:12 | 126637 deadhead
deadhead's picture

Well done indeed!

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:17 | 126134 John McCloy
John McCloy's picture

The people at Motley Fool Laughed at me when I wrote this back in July and why I thought they would underperform.It is the 3rd one down.

http://caps.fool.com/Ticker/GS/Commentary/Page1.aspx?filter=0&pageSize=20&sortcol=21&sortdir=1

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 18:38 | 126478 JR
JR's picture

Well, by some of the replies you received on your 7/14/2009 post (which I’ve reprinted below because of your prescience), there really are some “motley fools” on that site waiting to be taken by some motley tools, such as Goldman Sachs. But it now seems GS was a fool, too. It sort of got away from them, didn’t it?  They were too busy making up the rules to listen. Goldman needs to grab some John D. Rockefellers and start handing out dimes to little kids.  Seems they need a little PR.  Breaking up Goldman is a first step, but in the end, the only thing that will save the country is to abolish the Fed. Injecting the American free enterprise system with fiat money and secret control by private individuals was like injecting a deadly poison into a healthy body.  If it's not removed, the body dies.  It is not enough to let it lie dormant for a while: it will only come back later and kill you.  Anyway, your 7/19 post:

Goldman Sachs Will be Dismantled by the U.S. Government just like Ma Bell. They have too much wealth and power and are too dangerous and cannot be trusted.


GS holding the market hostage with their wealth is not beneficial and unhealthy. They manage entirely too much money in this environment. They are using their wealth to capture everyone elses’ money. They are not creating wealth, simply hoarding it.

This stock market now is like would be the equivalent of a 2009 U.S. military in a war vs 1944 U.S. Military. Out gunned and outmanned by GS.


Strategically the next move would be to destroy more wealth by crashing the market while you’re short crushing competitors.


Then bringing it up again with you even stronger.


It is like betting on a game that is fixed. They cannot lose since they know the outcome and they use darkpool trading with all the subsidary hedge funds to move the market. Public outrage will grow. The only reason banks became too big to fail was because the survival of Goldman was tied to GS getting their insurance money. IF AIG went under, no money for GS.


Playing in the stock market now is not a free market. It is similar to betting on a game where Goldman determines the winner at will because they can outspend you.


I believe program trading will be either eliminated or more heavily regulated by within 5 years or sooner.

This is not even comparable to a company which set prices on a service like AT&T.


They set the prices for EVERY GOOD IN EXISTENCE VIA THE STOCK MARKET.


If the U.S. public was mildly intelligent they would realize this.  (end)

Imagine if Standard Oil had not been broken up by now. Every form of energy from natural gas to heating oil to diesel  and all phases of the supply chain from exploration to retail delivery would be controlled by one company, not to mention the reins of government. Maybe it was not enough then, but it was essential.

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:25 | 126790 _Biggs_
_Biggs_'s picture

"Strategically the next move would be to destroy more wealth by crashing the market while you’re short crushing competitors."

 

Please see Goldman Capitol Hill pamphlets regarding "naked shorting."  Kerosene on the fire...or plutonium.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:20 | 126141 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

LOve the word "middleclassovorous" Perfectly describes the feeding habits and diet of these entities.

How we ever allowed the non-productive sector of the economy with a sole function of diverting money from less productive to more productive uses to grow from 4% to 18% of GDP and 70% of corporate profits is a complete mystery.

Oh wait, mystery solved! Regulatory capture and repeated Fed bubble inflating.

Its time for banking to go back to its traditional and useful status as a rather dull utility. Why anyone thought that shuffling money in different ways created wealth is another mystery.

Oh wait, mystery solved! Academic and media capture.

There's a lot to be done before all the tentacles of the squid can be cut off

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:23 | 126144 Handle with care
Handle with care's picture

LOve the word "middleclassovorous" Perfectly describes the feeding habits and diet of these entities. How we ever allowed the non-productive sector of the economy with a sole function of diverting money from less productive to more productive uses to grow from 4% to 18% of GDP and 70% of corporate profits is a complete mystery. Oh wait, mystery solved! Regulatory capture and repeated Fed bubble inflating. Its time for banking to go back to its traditional and useful status as a rather dull utility. Why anyone thought that shuffling money in different ways created wealth is another mystery. Oh wait, mystery solved! Academic and media capture. There's a lot to be done before all the tentacles of the squid can be cut off

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:23 | 126145 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Another consequence of GS' channeling of the Divinity is that our currency needs a new motto, 'In God We Trust' seeming somehow antiquated and not reflective of modern America.

How about this:

'Something For Nothing.'

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:25 | 126150 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I suspect squid are like starfish: if you cut them into four pieces, each will grow back and replicate the original. Thus instead of one squid we'd end up with 4.

Can't we shoot it in the head like a zombie, drive a stake through it's heart like a vampire, or burn it like a witch?

Or maybe could do all three, and it still wouldn't die?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:26 | 126151 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Remove the L from Goldman, and you get Godman. Give the L to LLLoyd, and the three LLLs can symbolize the trinity effectively transforming LLLoyd into Godman, omnicaring do-gooder and savior of the world. A new religion is right around the corner - don't forget to hit the offering plate.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:29 | 126157 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Lloyd Blankfein in the keywords with "mollusk" and "squid" is worth the price of admission. Along with the exquisite Marla of course.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:34 | 126163 Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

Let's all get our our peace signs and tie-dyes and get together in front of 85 Broad.

"All we are saaaaaayyyyyyyyiiiiiinnnngggg  ....

...  is close Goldman Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaachs."

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:50 | 126192 TomJoad
TomJoad's picture

Except the signs all need to say:

"Jump! You Fuckers!"

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:35 | 126164 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

GS does not have to break up....

Just address how securities can be traded....

Restructure the exchange itself and its basic regulations....

Here it is....

What would make for a better exchange ....
An exchange which is made up of millions of small accounts....

Or

A market made up of a handful of accounts.....made up of millions of individuals....resulting in highly concentrated positions....

And what if there were 5 dominant accounts which had the
wherewithal to move the whole market in their own direction....?????

Are there not anti trust laws that already should be implemented....Are the larger firms not already in violation ?????

..............................

Laws should be super-simplified....ie a hedge fund cannot exceed $100,000,000....

A specific account cannot place orders which exceed 25,000 shares....

No dark pools...No non-exchange price discovery ....

..............................

The point being that some regulations could be vastly simplified ....and effective ....

Another simple idea....defragment the exchanges....

Let their be no account minimums.....let anyone who wants 4:1 margin either intraday or overnight have it....

Think about getting the Chinese individuals involved in US markets....ie why not a singular world wide direct access electronics exchange....?????

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:56 | 126199 Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

Oh.... my.... God.....

............................................

you...  use too........ many.....  ellipses....................................................

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:25 | 126544 Problem Is
Problem Is's picture

Wait...

Shouldn't Goldman be discussing how THEY are going to break up the government?

Not the other way around?

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:28 | 126793 _Biggs_
_Biggs_'s picture

No the government will be one of the 4 parts.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:36 | 126166 aint no fortuna...
aint no fortunate son's picture

You forgot the poor underfunded, outmanned SEC

..."the Federal Reserve, Treasury, the White House, Congress and the Senate)."

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:42 | 126179 grunk
grunk's picture

Anybody have a recipe for vampire calamari?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:47 | 126187 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Blankfein, principal stakeholder, tries to provide public relations to address the growing antipathy toward his firm.
How incompetent is it that the squidholder broaches "doing God's work" to defuse that criticism. Yes, it may be a historical thief, as some have said, but at least it's God's thief.

A combination of arrogance, political tonedeafness and simple stupidity? Blankfein may provide that the defense to his woefully incompetent interview is that the only alternative was to have his wife give the interview.

Have your met her?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 22:43 | 126724 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Blackfein is a simpe servant to some master. And it is not the God described in the Bible. Mocking God is not likely to result in a pretty end. PAtience.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:48 | 126188 chet
chet's picture

I would love to believe that there is actually movement towards breaking up the big banks, but I won't believe it until the moment that Obama is putting ink on an actual bill passed by Congress.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 15:56 | 126200 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Anything that's "Too Big to Fail" is a sovereign state.

The only way to break up a sovereign state is to go to war.

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:08 | 126313 panda6
panda6's picture

+1000000 for deus ex reference

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:23 | 126789 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Deus Ex3 is coming... nanoaugmentation

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:10 | 126219 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

 


“Most of the activities we do, and you can be confused if you read the pop press, serve a real purpose,” Blankfein said. “It wouldn’t be better for the world or the financial system” to change the firm’s activities,

 

AWWW, poor little stealing bastards. 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:25 | 126254 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

The good news is that the US public is, like, rather "Scorpioish" in their anger: by the time they realize what they're pissed at, it's already past the breaking point.  Smashee, smashee.

By the time GS figures that out it will be far, far too late.

Can we please have calamari on the next ZH t-shirt, pleeeease?  And not sauteed.  Fried.

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:32 | 126268 ahab
ahab's picture

"no risk and infinite return"

excellent business model

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:42 | 126286 deadhead
deadhead's picture

in other news, those 2 losers at bear were acquitted today.

how reassuring.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:17 | 126322 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

Prosecutors failed to show that the managers "knew what the future held and they hatched a criminal scheme to lie to investors," Cioffi's attorney, Susan Brune, said in closing arguments.

Added Brune: "This is a case that is built on hindsight bias."

 

that's funny, I thought all criminal cases are built on "hindsight bias"

when I was just finishing law school, my father was grabbed as an expert witness for a huge patent suit in DC based on cell phone design. After his testimony, I asked him how it was going. "son, he said, "after about five minutes, I could tell nobody understood what the hell I was talking about."       

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:00 | 126304 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The Founding Fathers decried any whiff lf any suspicion of royalty or monarchy in the United States. If the private bank cartel of the Rothschilds, the Blankfeins, et al. want to reign, they need to blast off the North American continent and reign someplace else, ditto for the billionaires: Gates, Buffet, Ellison, the Waltons, and Dell.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:08 | 126312 BennyBoy
BennyBoy's picture

Goldman would never let Goldman be broken up.

That's why it's independent contractors (or is it employees?), AKA Congress, won't let it happen.

Somebody has to be in charge. And it aint the FED.

BB

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 17:13 | 126317 Heroic Couplet
Heroic Couplet's picture

The Founding Fathers were dead set against any whiff of a monarch or a life long "reign" in the US.  Therefore, there is no need for a private bank cartel of the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Warburgs, et al. Nor is there any need for billinionaires: Blankfeins, et al., Gates, Buffet, Ellison, the Walton family, Dell.  If they want to reign, they need to get off the North American Continent. If their workfoce lives in Bangalore (Gates, Ellison, Dell, Palmisano), then they need to be living there. Stay on the North American continent and face confiscatory tax rates. After all, we have absolute proof that tax cuts do not create jobs in America; the labor available in India and China is way too large. If you don't understand that yet, you can bet the Indians and Chinese understand.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 22:07 | 126686 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Yes, the Founding Fathers were against any whiff of monarchy, which is why Blankfein did them one better and went Divine.

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:56 | 126812 JR
JR's picture

Priceless!

Thu, 11/12/2009 - 20:24 | 129171 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

 LOL!

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:06 | 126521 dot_bust
dot_bust's picture

Mentioned Zero Hedge's analyses of Goldman Sachs:

http://www.mfi-miami.com/assume-the-position-goldman-sachs

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:27 | 126547 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

fix title
cephalopod != mollusk

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 19:33 | 126552 Zippyin Annapolis
Zippyin Annapolis's picture

GS broken up?

 

Why stop there? CS, JPM, MS, Wells, BoA/ML--chop them all up. Off the lot of them.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 20:12 | 126580 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

You people are such a deranged bunch of consipiracists.Show of hands please, how many of you also think George W. Bush was behind 9/11?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 20:52 | 126611 Careless Whisper
Careless Whisper's picture

go short some gold

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 22:46 | 126728 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

+1

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 23:00 | 126740 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

what's a consipiracist? 

Is it as annoying as a constipiracist?

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 23:18 | 126751 geopol
geopol's picture

George W. Bush isn't smart enough to pull that off...

Osama bin Ladin  from a cave in Afghanistan with a 486 laptop, that should cover it..

 

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 05:41 | 126869 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

Hee, hee, hee Geopol. 

Anonymous-

This site is not about 9/11, good luck trying to discredit or divide us.

For the record, they're really scared that the low government approval ratings are due to a loss of faith in government because of suspicions, so apparently they are now saying anyone that doesn't believe in the official cave story is the same as a holocaust denier, a global warming denier, and the latest Fort Hood terrorist (propaganda machine) - Do not question authority, I am warning you, do not pull back the curtain on the wizard of oz - "Do not entertain ridiculous conspiracy theories" or we will label you.  Well, six of the ten commissioners on the official 9/11 commission have stated information was withheld and distorted and have called for a new investigation - the congress and fbi have stated a nation state was also involved (un-named because it is classified).

I've got a better cave story, look up the allegory of Plato's Cave.  Things are not as they appear, watch Wag the Dog, the International, Aaron Russo's Rockefeller interview, and the money masters. Then read the Prince by Machiavelli, the protocols of the illuminati, and then progress to de-classified documents regarding events like the USS Liberty, Gulf of Tonkin, MK Ultra, and Operations Northwoods.  Once you have a historical perspective, you might be able to understand more than the shadows in Plato's cave. 

Right now, you are like Truman from the Truman Show, and to be honest ignorance is bliss, I really envy you as superior knowledge does not lead to happiness.  If I had one piece of advice, it would be to live in happiness and peace so don't pull back the curtain as it really is quite a burden when right is wrong and white is black.

Good morning! good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

 

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 21:53 | 126679 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Beef and moan? Useless. Work within the system for change? Useless.

"Get on with living on get on with dying"

We all have two choices: Grab your gun and go shoot someone who needs shooting, or STFU and stay bent over.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 23:31 | 126762 laughing_swordfish
laughing_swordfish's picture

Interesting interview in the London Times Sunday by Chairman Lloyd about doing "god's Work".

I'm not particularly religious, but this approaches utter blasphemy - and, as such, on behalf of all believers in every faith who read ZH, I declare a FATWA on one Lloyd C. Blankfein and all of his guilty minions at 85 Broad St.

Let believers everywhere take up God's work by undertaking jihad against Lloyd Blankfein and all of  the "accursed of  (God,Allah,Yahweh)" who work with him.

Heads on pikes -nothing less will do.

KptLt. laughing swordfish

9er Unterseeboote Flotille

 

 

 

 

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:18 | 126787 JR
JR's picture

If Money is your god, then I guess Brother Lloyd IS doing "god's Work."

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 00:56 | 126814 _Biggs_
_Biggs_'s picture

I suppose it depend's on the term "god." 

 

666 is a pretty f-up'd number, if you ask me.

Wed, 11/11/2009 - 02:36 | 126847 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

Dear Boy

We are issuing Fatwas since early October via our back channels.

Not to worry about Jihad also. ZH is on that since its inception.

We have this covered. Believe us.

Sat, 11/14/2009 - 05:03 | 130523 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

"I am putting you on a plane to Zombieland. Only don't tell me you are innocent. It insults my intelligence and makes me very angry." God (the real one).

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!