# Bought and converted into high-yield bonds tens of thousands of mortgages from subprime lenders that became the subjects of FBI investigations into whether they'd misled borrowers or exaggerated applicants' incomes to justify making hefty loans.
# Used offshore tax havens to shuffle its mortgage-backed securities to institutions worldwide, including European and Asian banks, often in secret deals run through the Cayman Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean that companies use to bypass U.S. disclosure requirements.
# Has dispatched lawyers across the country to repossess homes from bankrupt or financially struggling individuals, many of whom lacked sufficient credit or income but got subprime mortgages anyway because Wall Street made it easy for them to qualify.
# Was buoyed last fall by key federal bailout decisions, at least two of which involved then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former Goldman chief executive whose staff at Treasury included several other Goldman alumni.
Whether this really constitutes fraud depends on who knew what, and when did they know it.
How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash [McClatchy] (Photo: C. Barr)
]]>Yeah they do really well at those "investigations" they do.
]]>wake up... Obama works for them... 2nd highest contributions to his campaign were made by goldman sachs.
]]>Fuck 'em - you know how Obama can be really popular? Go after these clowns, prosecute 'em, and send 'em to Gitmo to share cells with other people who want to destroy America.
]]>two of the world's richest men like those of old who were cut throat and "evil" are now super big time philanthropists.
it's the cycle of life and very catholic. (even if they aren't) DO evil things while young and repent on your death bed.
]]>@Esquire99: Telling a company that it's engaging in illegal practices kinda is telling it how to run its business, yes? And what's the point of the SEC doing a report if (as you would seem to prefer) the government has no power to do anything but wag its finger and say "Bad company! Bad!"
]]>Someone sells you a car they know is a lemon and you say "they didn't put a gun to your head?" IDGI. Is this a blame the victim post?
Or maybe I am misunderstanding. Yes, there is always some reasonable responsibility on the part of the buyer, but the bigger issue is a company that sells assets it knew were junk in the tune of billions of dollars. Let's focus on those guys before focusing on Joe Blow who may or may not have understand what he was buying.
]]>Best story quote that links to another current Consumerist story:
"The Securities and Exchange Commission should be very interested in any financial company that secretly decides a financial product is a loser and then goes out and actively markets that product or very similar products to unsuspecting customers without disclosing its true opinion," said Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor who's proposed a massive overhaul of the nation's banks. "This is fraud and should be prosecuted."
Didn't anyone give Kotlikoff the memo on the S.E.C.?
@Skankingmike: Today's CEO's do not donate for public libraries or anything that the "smaller government" for which they whine should be doing in the first place.
Today's CEOs ask for tax credits to keep a factory in a certain state or in the US at all...
They don't have to become philanthropists today when there are 200' yachts, and multiple homes globally to buy in their retirements to keep them busy...
]]>Yup. Sleeping with call girls: EVIL!
]]>@dragonfire81: The masses of sheeple want to know what exciting new tidbit about the death of Michael Jackson that you are holding out?
]]>This way banks could make any loan they wanted and both the bank and investment firm could rack up large profit in fees by making and moving a large volume of crappy loans.
The losses were sold off to dumb investors and to large pension and retirement funds. And after the crap was sold away the banks insured the loans for failure so they could profit again when the loans failed.
The banks and investment houses earned tons while individual investors and insurance firms went bankrupt.
]]>No matter how much stuff you buy or how much you make, it will never fill that cosmically huge void of working for a company that contributes nothing to the world.
Money isn't everything.
]]>And, of cuss, control of the Federal Reserve...
As for the rest of us (all together now):
...another day older,
and deeper in debt...
Hmmm...
]]>I think you're safe. Got to have something to use after the swine are cornered with the pitchforks and torches.
Reminder to self, maybe invest in rails or bond futures for prisons!
]]>My question was whether or not - under the current laws - did Spitzer do anything illegal.
]]>However, since it is illegal, and there is still a demand for it, it's basically turned into an underground slave trade. We have made ti so that prostitution = evil is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The women are victims and are subjected to absolutely deplorable things, but if they do, they speak up, they go to jail, so they keep quiet. Once we have gotten over ourselves and our fear of our own sexuality, we can start doing something to help these poor individuals.
Anywaaaaaaay, back no topic. Goldman Sachs sucks. A lot of people like to point the finger at AIG as the main culprit of the economic ass-plosion, but they're really just a scapegoat. Granted, it was stupid of them to insure all the crap they insured. Even a casual investigation would have revealed those assets to be toxic, but Goldman Sachs are the ones that really made out like thieves. They got all their money back.
All the money AIG got from the government pretty much went towards paying for everyone else's losses. Again, not saying AIG isn't at fault here, but I think the lion's share of the fault lies with Goldman. THAT is who should have received the Cousumerist's coveted WCIA award.
]]>Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Goldman probably won't get a slap on the wrist, and the people in power will continue to be the same kind of pimps and whores that many of them have shown themselves to be, and it will be the rest of us that will have to make up for their lack of moral character...
]]>@Chris Walters: I read it . A long but outstanding read . Taibbi explains and talks about things like a normal person would talk about the subject . He gives examples you can understand .
Some highlights include Goldman basically had the first mutual fund but repackaged the same one around 3 times - rather Ponziskimish . Helped the 1929 crash along . In recent history they helped manipulate the energy and commodities markets with super high speed software .
It also noted how many ex Goldmansachs executives are in government regulating their industry and products .
And they did indeed play , package & resell bets on the housing bubble .
It's a long but understandable read .
]]>I could not agree with that more. However, wasn't what he did kinda sorta illegal?
I dont care about peoples dicking around (Ensign, Clinton) but I find it un-cool when the said dicking around is illegal or adversely affects other people (Sanford, Tyrol).
]]>Vanderbilt
Stanford
Mellon
yea, yea the list goes on and on
]]>@The Cynical Librarian: Haha brilliant advice if I do say so
]]>oh elliot spitzer, had your whoring ways not brought you down you could be campaigning on your past hard work.
]]>Until they prove that the two-tier treatment was a deliberate attempt to defraud investors, there is no grounds for a fraud investigation. If you can't prove that Goldman had a gap between client-recommendations and legitimate analysis (reference Henry Blodget), it's just a hedge. Hedging large inventory positions is legal, common, necessary, and encouraged.
]]>There is way more going on inside these big banks nobody fully knows about yet. We could still see a sudden implosion.
]]>Andrew Carnegie rings a bell, that guy was a super dick.
]]>This is old news, but just like Toyota's recent safety problems, it just hasn't been picked up by most of the mainstream media.
]]>There are-unfortunately-plenty of people in the GW Bush administration, as well as Obama's, that used to work at Goldman Sachs.
Then, there's the current governor of New Jersey, who led Goldman during the last great bubble in the 90s.
Sigh.
]]>That's why I call them Goldman Sucks.
]]>I do not vouch for the article as I *still* haven't read all of it. I've had it saved to read for months now.
]]>