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Lloyd Blankfein Says He Never Got Request To Take Less Than 100 Cents On Dollar For AIG CDO Exposure
So... Timmy... Who's lying here?
More Blankfein soundbites. Note the bolded ones:
10:19 01/13 BLANKFEIN:THINK HAVE 'VERY, VERY TOUGH REGULATOR' IN FED RESVE
10:19 01/13 BLANKFEIN:SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SEC REGUL UNDER PRE-BHC REGIME
10:18 01/13 BLANKFEIN: FED REGULATION VERY 'APPARENT';DOZENS STAY ON SITE
10:15 01/13 BLANKFEIN: REAL ISSUE IS WHETHER ASSETS MARKED APPROPRIATELY
10:15 01/13 BLANKFEIN:AS MKT TO MKT FIRM,GS ASSETS APPROPRIATELY MARKED
10:12 01/13 BLANKFEIN:RE AIG,NEVER GOT REQUEST TO TAKE LESS THAN 100C/DLR
10:04 01/13 BLANKFEIN:GS WOULD HAVE HANDLED RISK DIFFERENTLY IN RETROSPECT
10:03 01/13 BLANKFEIN:AFTER 10 'BENIGN' YEARS, LEVERAGE ESCALATED
10:02 01/13 BLANKFEIN: SHOULD APPRECIATE TARP'S DIMINUTION OF OVERALL RISK
10:01 01/13 BLANKFEIN:GS DIDN'T INITIALLY DEPEND ON TARP BUT'WORLD UNSAFE'
09:57 01/13 BLANKFEIN: OF COURSE, ALWAYS THINK COULD HAVE DONE BETTER
09:57 01/13 BLANKFEIN:STILL NO REASON TO THINK GS DUE DILIGENCE NOT ROBUST
09:55 01/13 BLANKFEIN: GS ROLE OF MKT MAKER CREATES LIQUIDITY
09:55 01/13 BLANKFEIN: GS PROVIDES EXPOSURE TO RISKY INSTRUMENTS
09:55 01/13 BLANKFEIN: CONCEPT OF MKT MAKING, RISK MANAGEMENT, CORE ISSUE
09:54 01/13 BLANKFEIN: GS DOES RISK MNGMENT;'POCKETS'OF GS HELD VARIOUS OP
09:52 01/13 BLANKFEIN: WERE NOT A BROKER, BUT A PRINCIPAL IN SUBPRIME
09:51 01/13 BLANKFEIN: CUSTOMERS WERE SEEKING EXPOSURE THEY WANTED TO HAVE
09:51 01/13 BLANKFEIN: IN MKT MAKING, NOT A FIDUCIARY, NOT AN AGENT
09:50 01/13 BLANKFEIN:'REGRET' CONSEQUENCE OF MKT MAKING,THAT WERE LOSSES
09:48 01/13 BLANKFEIN: ENGAGED IN 'TYPICAL BEHAVIORS'; WERE ILL ADVISED
09:47 01/13 BLANKFEIN: HELD TOO HIGHLY LEVERAGED POSITIONS FOR TOO LONG
09:47 01/13 GS'S BLANKFEIN: GOT 'CAUGHT UP' IN CONTRIBUTING TO MKT 'FROTH'
08:52 01/13 GOLDMAN'S BLANKFEIN: NEED MORE FOCUS ON CONS PROTEC IN REG SYS
08:51 01/13 GOLDMAN'S BLANKFEIN:SUPPORTS CLEARING HSE IDEA FOR OTC DERIVS
08:50 01/13 GOLDMAN'S BLANKFEIN: GOV '08 ACTIONS HELPED STABILIZE FIN SYS
»
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Ruh-ro.
These hearings are a whitewashed farce... "We were sorta bad but hey, who wasn't? We were "excessive." We promise never to do it again. Not never."
"Thank you for your honesty. We believe you."
TBTF's are all rallying back from early weakness now that the fix is in..
"The fix is in..." EXACTLY. If there's one thing honest, analytical investors have learned over the past 18 months, it's that a fix WAS in, IS in, and will likely always BE in.
Since when has a federal investigation of anything(at this level) ever led to discovering truth and led to the administering of real justice? How many times do we have to be disappointed before folks accept that its broken and can not expect real results by these means?
They're all lying.
no risk-- no leverage--mope+
http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2009-161a.pdf
"Ruh-ro."
It's obvious that "the dog ate it".
Geithner will be fired. No questions about it. But when. I think this was the last nail in his coffin. Fuck him. But i have no hopes in getting someone better in his position. So yeah, nothing will change.
Sheila Bair. Everything she has done has seemed.... surprisingly reasonable and level-headed
And she's a Republican. Would be a nifty move, politically
Would that be Shelia "Prompt Corrective Action my butt" Bair?
Shelia is more of the same. Instead of enforcing the damn law, she's been instrumental in allowing FDIC insured banks to operate without sufficient capital reserves -- even though that's explicitly a violation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act Section 38.
Yes, let's promote her to a more prominent role in this circus as reward. Hey, while we're at it, why don't we promote Mary Schapiro to Secretary of Labor.
Mary Shapiro can take over FDIC. Cramer takes SEC.
Peter Principle states: "... Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence." with corollary - "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
Would she be strong enough to do the right thing, and stop the TBTF insanity? Politically for BO, a slick move, but his fringe support would "have kittens". Couple that with his supposed move to ask for more war money, and the near term political landscape would be cuckoo.
Is BO strong enough to do the right thing?
Anyone heard from Volcker lately?
Geithner will not be fired...not now or the near future.
He has the full support of the administration.
Geithner will not be fired, not now or in the near future. He is doing his job as directed by administration policy...
"He is doing his job as directed by administration policy..."
And? Just because he's doing the dirty work for the administration now doesn't mean that he can't be publicly blamed for everything and ostentatiously fired at a later stage. Quite the opposite.
I won't be surprised if he isn't. That's how low we have sunk.
Furthermore, as to who is lying??? It does not matter..nothing will come of lies, except more transfer of wealth and major donations to the captured audience on the Hill...
What Blankfein didn't mention was that
nobody would have DARED ask that.
Bingo. The fix [Timmah] was in. Why would the subject even come up? That would be a violation of the arrangment. The whole point is to not ask! If you ask, you're negotiating. If you're negotiating, the number is less than 100%. That was not the deal. Deal was to wave off any notion of the rationale to do anything less than 100%.
Nailed it. Exactly. This was how it happened.
Conspiracy of Silence.
Goldman didn't need to negotiate with Timmy on the AIG bailout.
Hank Paulson did everything to ensure that Goldman was going to be paid 100 cents on the dollar. In fact, I wouldn't be surprise at all if Geithner were told that financial armageddon would ensue if all counterparties were not made totally whole.
The problem with Geithner-- and with the Federal Reserve in general-- was an unwavering willingness to cover things up to protect a corrupt set of players in a corrupt financial system.
The fix was in.
Now, the jig is up.
+1 And where is Paulson now--he is pulling a Tommy Franks and keeping his big mouth shut.
" the jig is up".....?
Careful, you're walking into Harry Reid territory.
Classic criminal defense attorney advice. Keep your mouth shut. You nailed it Bugs. The irony is that the silence is the confession. This would never happen in the real world, so something else is afoot. Now the criminal jury is instructed that they can not consider the defendant's silence BUT that's normally restricted to a defendant in the presence the law. The jury can definitely consider the silence from the other side and the ridiculous circumstances these two liars claim. But forget the indictment for now, this is more than enough to throw geithner (and this administration) out on its sorry thieving ass.
"...resigning in order to spend more time with his family and desire to return to the private sector..."
Lloyd is the worst liar I have ever heard. He's pathetic, he contradicts himself constantly.
I was always taught that stupidity was the handmaiden of arrogance. This is the best example I've every seen.
+1000000000000000000 OG double OG
All lifelong sell-side commodity guys live in a world of misspeakisms.
Sophistry of the first order..
It really is tough to lie. While you never have to remember what you say when it is the truth, a liar must remember every lie or get caught in the lie. All it takes is good accounting to find the lies.
John Stewart did a great bit on all this BS last night.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-12-2010/clusterf--k-to-the-poor-house---wall-street-bonuses
ps, Blanfein is a P.O.S. liar.
The problem with John Stewart's "bits" is that people laugh after seeing them. While unintentionally, perhaps, he serves simply to diffuse the anger people justifiably feel toward these vermin. We don't need laughter, we need justice.
It's a start Andrei. Without Stewart many people would not have considered the situation at all.
A chuckle or a blank stare is better than nothing at all.
Surely, some of the Stewart audience (myself included) feel "left out" of the humor due to a lack of understanding at times. The ones who pursue the joke to get at the underlying facts are the ones in whom we have hope. The ones who look about glassy-eyed and wonder not... That is the fraction of the population that we don't need joining the crusade anyway.
One can only hope that fraction (the vast majority) is shrinking. I fear it is not. I think most people have a knee-jerk hatred of banks mainly because they're rich and have prospered in this depression - which is all well and good - but I am afraid the administration's tactic now is to short-circuit that hatred with this 'tax the bonus' initiative, so as to divert any and all attention away from the enabling and complicity of the Fed, USGov, Treasury, and myriad regulatory bodies.
I didn't use to think this, enjoying the intellect, wit and humor but you're right. As the corruption, crime and hunger grow, the less I'm laughing. I remember when he took off a couple of weeks after 911 stating he just could not bear the tragedy and there was nothing to laugh about. Well this is worse, it effects everyone and the terrorists are are own. I enjoy your comments Andrei
Thank you, Davey. God bless.
well said.
I think the difference is, the current destruction is protracted, instead of happening in the span of a few hours. We're the frog in the pot.
ribbit is our new tribbet. what a disgusting exhibit
It is a comedy program, after all.
I am Chumbawamba.
It's the "circus" part of the Roman Empire strategy to placate the masses that could have torn the place apart if they had any sense of Liberty.
Geithner's answer as to why AIG CDSs were paid off at 100 cents was possibly the worst answer I've ever seen by a senior figure, "Because if you default on those commitments you end up defaulting on ALL commitments and the firm comes collapsing down."
Huh? This makes no sense under any kind of interpretation. He's simply flapping his lips to make it sound like he's got an answer.
The second worst statement I've ever seen by a public figure is also in this clip. Paulson saying that if any conditions are put on TARP it won't work. I remember at the time thinking, "Wait a minute, your argument is that we have to pay them this $700 Billion as they're in imminent danger of going bankrupt, yet if you put in ANY conditions they'll choose to go bankrupt rather than take the money? Let the companies with suicidal management refuse the money and go bust then and let the ones who's managers aren't megalomaniacs with a messiah complex take over their markets and win."
blankfein, doesn't decide policy, he just administers it. he's just mid level management, in the bankster world. he's not the squid brain.
Blankfein gave a weasel answer to that question - i.e. he narrowed it down to himself only and stated that HE did not that request. As a follow up, the questioner was astute enough to ask if anyone in his firm got that request. While Blankfein danced around on that one - it is clear that the issue came up. How is not clear.
Bingo!
He was never asked. He, being Lloyd. Not he being the firm? Different question, eh? Of course, he wasn't in the room with those posing the question, had it been so made. Called Plausable Deniability. He had his folks handling the details, for Christ's sake. He told the truth.
Moreover, I love his the Fed regulators are always on site, rigorous, diligent ball of spittle. Having worked at Fed examined institutions we accommodated the auditors and examiners well. Nice conference room. Phones. They had the run of the place. Hardly ever saw them. Cursory once a year meeting, stock questions. Counsel advised us to treat like a deposition. Yessir, nosir. Flying colors.
We have a front row seat on the destruction of Western Civilisation.
you guys are doing the same sort of a thing that caused all this mess in the 1st place. to think that just one man or a woman can fix it all, and not make a single mistake while doing so, is no different than all those boards hiring a CEO for 100MM and expecting to turn a profit. and then doing the same thing with another person 2 years later.
we did not get into this overnite, and it will def. take longer than just one year of one person's flawless efforts to get us out of it!
So many heads, so few pikes.
+10000
Orwell really understood the human condition when he wrote about "newsspeak" in the 1930's. Everyone who aspires to a position of power is required to take newsspeak 101 through the 6000 level in college just to hide the truth. Very sad.
Orwell's personal experience encompassed the most ideologically intense event of the last century, the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Another author with a similar history whose work you may enjoy, Arthur Koestler. I'd suggest the particularly trenchant, Darkness At Noon. It reaches a depth few others do in relating the arbitrary nature of totalitarian justice.
I'd have to believe Blankfein,
It was never brought up, so of course Golden Slacks would take full payment.
I'd have to believe Blankfein:
once a liar, always a liar !
with all the lies we know since 1 year, whom can you still believe ? certainly not this idiot of Blankfein who calls himself "God".
These guys are incapable of telling the truth. Therefore they are both lying. Mutually exclusive you say? Now I've gotten myself dizzy again...
Just in time for Chrissy Dodd to be rewarded and made the next lapdog Treasury leader.
Derivative armageddon awaits with TBTF
holding one third of unsecured global OTC
derivatives and GS CEO LB proclaiming on
the whole they did pretty well. Guess
that depends which side of the trade you
held, AIG notwithstanding. Act II of
Perfect Storm Pending...
http://www.jubileeprosperity.com/
I think it is an extremely satisfactory outcome (at least for me) that whereas once a career at Goldman was a source of pride for people, now it is one of shame. Seriously, how many people around you today will be proud of you if you are a Goldman employee? The answer is ZERO (at least in my circles). Same goes for being a bankster in general. All their fictitious ill-gotten bits of paper (they so fondly call as "money") can't redeem them. I think we must all declare a strike against banksters and whatever job we do , REFUSE to serve ANY and ALL BANKSTERS or do a shoddy job if we have do it at all [I think business owners might have a bit more freedom in this regard, although our friends ala servers/waiters in the restaurant business also have a lot of freedom - feel free to spit in the food, drop that steak on the ground plus I hear you can do interesting things with clam chowder, etc - I am sure those in the business will have many more interesting ideas :-) - while serving a bankster - just a thought]
THIS IS A CALL FOR BOYCOTTING ALL BANKSTERS AND SHAMING THEM. FROM NOW ON BEING A JANITOR SHOULD BE A MORE RESPECTABLE PROFESSION THAN BANKING. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE MONEY DOESN'T MEAN YOU OWN THE SOCIETY AT LARGE.
The ironic thing is that most of the tools posting hating and conspirasist comments on hre would jump at a whiff of an opportunity to work at GS
If you mean would anyone or most jump at the chance to take "money for nothing and chicks for free", how is that irony?
It's probably more like common sense.
That only one or two firms, most of whose members belong to a very specific incestuous tribe, is the problem. Naturally if this pot of gold were available at the end of all our rainbows we would be happy to take it. That however, does not diminish the fact that you have posited a logical fallacy.
Oh please. Go whack off somewhere private.
I am Chumbawamba.
he types with two hands
May i work at their core computer/network facility and bring a few pounds of C4 and detonators with me? If so, then yes i'd work for GS. Those are my terms.
short sheeting their beds and spilling drinks on them will hardly suffice.
I agree to serve them over hot flames, with fries and a gasoline chaser
Putin would take the Alpha banker...throw him in jail... steal his company. The rest would simmer down some.
Blankfein is getting back at Timmy for his comments regarding Goldman failing if there had not been a bailout, something Goldman was denying up the point.
Here's what doesn't make sense about Blankfein's answer: he said an employee received an inquiry. How does Blankfein know an employee received an inquiry? The employee told him. The employee definitely told him in the context of expecting some guidance on the issue.
So what Blankfein was really saying was that he wasn't directly asked by the Fed. Not that he didn't give an answer to the question..that was asked by the employee.
there is really no plausible explanation for the 100% payout other than that it was a money gift
why not let the bondholders take a haircut?
to my simple way of thinking, the conclusion that it is really the bondholders who are calling the shots, and the equity holders who are the chumps (same losers who allow bonuses to be paid instead of dividends).
Here is the point....
SOMEBODY had the opportunity to decide....
And made the decision not to pay less than 100 cents....
Thus....
WHO WAS IT ????
well it was Geithner, but working for who?
who did Tim's dad work for?
who did Tim's first mentor (Kissinger) work for?
who ran CITI and Chase for most of the 20th century?
who was behind the creation of the fed?
who has annointed every fed chairmen for the past 40 years?
who ran up the greatest fortune in history? and did so in a impenetrable tangle of trusts? who is the only family with enough power to even dream of orchestrating such a monumental heist? cuz, yeah, somebody orchestrated it.
i think you all know the answer
EXACTLY....
And perhaps one of the outsiders who knew the score, the CEO of the family office, unfortunately "suicided" himself and NARY a press inquiry.
kinda strange when news outlets are picking up courtney love posting topless fotos of herslef and her tatoos on twitter today AND NO INQUIRING JOURNALIST HAS CHOSEN TO GO AFTER THIS ONE!!!!
"Nuff said.
I have no freakin' clue...
Llooks like Lyold was able to skirt around the subprime issue today in the hearings.
Www.wallStOnion.blogspot.com