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Women, Children and Goldman Sachs Bankers First
Goldman Sachs Makes a Lot of Money, Always
AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Andrew Ross Sorkin in Pissing Match with His Own Newspaper
Goldman Sachs Executive and British Lord Finds Inequality Quite Tolerable
Goldman Sachs' Neediest Cases
Andrew Ross Sorkin's Front Row Seat to the End Of The World
Goldman Sachs Censors Gawker
Announcing the Goldman Project
Goldman Donations to Spark Massive Cognitive Dissonance

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registered
11/06/09

In reply to Women, Children and Goldman Sachs Bankers First
Okay. I worked at GS and we were treated very well. Not just the millionaires. When I worked there, it was the kind of place that employed nurses who sent every woman there confidential letters to say that you needed a mammogram, and you had to call extension 2XXX to schedule yours, which took place on the premises. I'm sure the boys got the same letters about their prostates or other boy parts.I can't see how this is a bad thing. I was working so many hours, I'd never have gone for a mammo if Mama Goldman hadn't made me do so.But carry on hating. I'm proud to be a former employee. I left ten years ago, but I will always be proud to say I worked there.Here is a little story about GS. On my first day of work, I smoked a cigarette. In my office, with the door closed; It was legal at the time. The secretary in the cubicle outside, not my secretary and not a secretary to anyone important, complained to HR that the second-hand smoke aggravated her asthma. Goldman took her complaint seriously and made me swap offices with a fellow several doors down. It was a major pain to swap both offices out, but it was done and the fellow who was moved never complained to me. It was a bit embarrassing to me, to be moved in my first week. HR called me as soon as I had resettled, to ask if all was okay and if I was upset. Nobody asks a smoker if things are okay when they are moved, but GS did. I said the only thing I could, that I was sorry to have caused so much chaos. I didn’t say what I was thinking, that two very well paid executives had been moved because a secretary complained. That would never have happened in any other place I have worked. The secretary would have been canned.

But, hey, carry on, John. #aporkalypse
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Edited by registered at 11/06/09 1:05 AM registered was starred registered was unstarred

b4nt4
11/05/09

In reply to Women, Children and Goldman Sachs Bankers First
also my little brother has swine flu now and i've had food poisoning that is 10x worse. everyone shuttup! #aporkalypse
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b4nt4
11/05/09

In reply to Women, Children and Goldman Sachs Bankers First
i used to work for the head of a bank whose lady is a celebrity and i cant remember if it was when this whole swine flu thing began last year?? or some other flu or illness thing was going around but ALL of the pharmacies were out of cipro yet she managed to get some (and my co worker had to go hold it hostage at the duane reade until her flack came to pick it up). #aporkalypse
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Unsolicited Advice
11/05/09

In reply to Women, Children and Goldman Sachs Bankers First
Citigroup has been supplied with 1,200 units and Goldman with 200, says Jessica Scaperotti, press secretary for the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. The agency has so far approved orders by 29 employers—including 16 that have yet to receive any vaccine—after they were cleared by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Big employers that have received or are scheduled to receive vaccine so far include Time Warner (TWX), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, and New York University.

The biggest health risk with H1N1 is absenteeism. From work, at big companies. Babies and children will not die unless there are complications. Everyone in my family save my wife and I have had the virus, including an 8-year-old with asthma - it's easily combatted with Tamiflu.

Pulitzer-worthy post, John. #aporkalypse
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AndPreciousLittleofThat
11/05/09

@Unsolicited Advice: I'd counter that the biggest risk with H1N1 is DEATH.

Which, unless Goldman and Citi have recently taken to hiring teenagers and pregnant women exclusively, means that there is zero justification for them having, much less STOCKPILING these vaccines.

But it's not surprising that Wall Street once again has a tin ear for public relations. When the NY Fed, Goldman, Citi AND Chase get these vaccines while pregnant women wait for hours in lines, it's another great demonstration of how fucking clueless the bankers are. #aporkalypse
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Unsolicited Advice
11/05/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat:

The CDC dispensed the vaccine - there is a limited supply and they are charged with determining how to distribute it.

[www.cdc.gov]

The report John linked indicates that the vaccine is for high-value personnel within corporations. Since absenteeism is the most critical highest risk presented by H1N1, prevented large losses by inoculating executives is numerically wise. Sorry! There are federal guidelines alluded to in this memo - we should see if Goldman's receipt of vaccine is somehow abnormal rather than distorting every piece of news related to the firm in some yellow fever of mudraking rage:

[www.opm.gov] #aporkalypse
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AndPreciousLittleofThat
11/05/09

@Unsolicited Advice: Ha ha, yellow fever.
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Edited by AndPreciousLittleofThat at 11/05/09 5:30 PM

Unsolicited Advice
11/05/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat:

I really do try to be the funny fatalist. #aporkalypse
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meechybee
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
The only good that can come out of this mess is the death of the "kill Social Security and let Wall Street run it" movement. Then again, (collective) we have very short memories. #goldmansachs
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nowimpissed
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
I don't understand the proposed solution that the government could have given Goldman Sachs a haircut on their insurance without giving the troubled banks one as well. Goldman had legally binding contracts with AIG for the full amount. Goldman owes their shareholders a fiduciary duty to get as much as possible for those contracts. Once the government stepped in to prevent AIG's bankruptcy, the government did not have a legal leg to stand on to pay some contracts but not others, so Goldman could not have taken less than the full contract amount without their shareholders (e.g. your 401K) rightly being up in arms over it. Yes, everyone was willing to negotiate for less when they thought AIG might go bankrupt, but once AIG was not in danger of bankruptcy, the negotiations effectively ended. Cook seems to accept that the failing banks would not have been able to take a substantial loss on the contracts and thus would have forced AIG into bankruptcy (or gone bankrupt themselves), which means the AIG bailout was necessary. Once that happens, why negotiate for less than your contract when the counter-party (now the government) can afford to pay 100% and has no legally valid reason not to? I don't know where the idea comes from that Geithner could have just unilaterally decided to not pay Goldman on its contracts while at the same time paying other banks. It's not a matter of Geithner favoring Goldman, it's just basic contract law and the reality of having a deep pocket behind AIG's legal obligations. #goldmansachs
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Novaload
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Geithner (and Summers) will go down as two huge Obama mistakes. The favoritism, the secrecy, the cozy Wall St. relationship---just disgusting. #goldmansachs
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lackadaisical
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Have we all forgotten the fact that Goldman has already repaid the gov't money - that they never wanted - plus interest?

If Goldman were losing money like every other bank, would we like them better? #goldmansachs
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registered
10/27/09

@lackadaisical: The AIG payment to GS is a separate matter from the TARP money that GS returned to the government.

"If Goldman were losing money like every other bank, would we like them better?" I’d hope not, but you have a point. I think the problem is not that GS is minting money this year, it’s the fact that it is proposing astronomical bonuses this year. Lloyd B could have been a bit more sensitive to how this would be perceived. It’s not written in stone that compensation has to be 50% of revenues. It would have been more prudent to add $10 billion to reserves to cushion the blow should another 2008 happen. Believe me, everyone at GS would still be more than adequately compensated. #goldmansachs
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charliebabbles
10/28/09

@registered: Well, that's only part of the problem. The real problem is two-fold: number one, Goldman most certainly DID need the TARP money. Technically they may not have actually needed the dollar amount, but they needed the gov guarantee which it represented. And number two, the main reason they're minting money now is because the gov has tilted the field in their favor. The gov stood by and allowed Lehman to fail, one of Goldman's major competitors, so Goldman is now eating Lehman's lunch. Additionally, the favorable funding rates which the gov is providing to GS (and others) makes it nearly impossible to not make money. So yeah, they're taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them (and good for them), but those opportunities exist due to gov largesse, not due to GS creating them. #goldmansachs
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registered
10/28/09

@charliebabbles: I don't disagree that every financial institution probably needed some sort of guarantee during the worst days of the crisis. Did I say they didn't?

I also agree with you that GS benefitted from Lehman's collapse, and the subsequent capital raising efforts of other financial institutions. Did I say they didn't? I just said they were minting money (w/o saying what was helping) and had no need to pay 50% of their windfall revenues to employees.

Please re-read my comment. I don't think we disagree. #goldmansachs
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Crucifictorius
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Dark pools are a bit overhyped thanks to a terrible name. The only real problem with them is that they run counter to the ECMH. If you can trade against a dark pool, then you can buy and sell shares based on your knowledge of the firm without that knowledge becoming built into the exchange price that everyone else sees. That's the whole thing about executing at the right price. Without the pool, major buyers and sellers end up front running themselves as they can't get all the shares they want at the same price. Supply tightens and the price goes up as a result of illiquidity. If enough people use dark pools, the ECMH is unequivocally false in practice regardless of whether it is true in theory. If you trade against the pool, no one sees your trade and you avoid the short term liquidity crunch but you also get away with making the transaction without 'showing your cards' to the broader market. So the issue of dark pools really comes down to whether you think that ma and pa shareholder are entitled to rely on a stock's price as a reflection of everyone's valuations, or if you are ok with saying that share prices are just a function of what people on the exchange are willing to pay today - if you want a valuation go do it yourself. #goldmansachs
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friend_of_a_friend
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
One of his goals was to persuade the banks to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar...

That means they wanted to pay 60 cents on the dollar. #goldmansachs
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John Cook
10/27/09

@friend_of_a_friend: You are correct. It's fixed. #goldmansachs
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Unsolicited Advice
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Dark pools were established so institutional and UHNW clients could set market orders to transact extremely large amounts of shares without disclosing them to day-traders and other entities that would bid those positions up or down. Do you know what actually happened when Blue Horseshoe loved Anacott Steel, John? Dark pools were established strictly because of scenarios like that scene in Gekko's office where the foreign banker implores him to stop screwing up his acquisition of a controlling stake by convincing other buyers to jump into an otherwise-moribund investment. This only benefits Goldman insofar as it makes them able to service their clients better. The real victim in a world without dark pools would be institutional buyers and sellers. #goldmansachs
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DahlELama
10/27/09

In reply to AIG Only Wanted to Give Goldman Sachs 40 60 Cents on the Dollar, Then Geithner Stepped In
Sorry, can't help you--the only guy I know at Goldman is currently on a beautiful cross-country trip in the Middle East... Oh, wait. #goldmansachs
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
10/27/09

In reply to Andrew Ross Sorkin in Pissing Match with His Own Newspaper
What is a Sorkin? Like, a sore gherkin? #andrewrosssorkin
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blix
10/27/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Ill-fitting merkins frequently lead to pain due to abrasion. So I hear. #andrewrosssorkin
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goetz
10/27/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Descendants of Fernando Sor. #andrewrosssorkin
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Uncle_Billy_Slumming
10/27/09

@blix: So.... job for the new America: Merkin Fitter. For marketing purposes: Merkin Outfitters
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Edited by Uncle_Billy_Slumming at 10/27/09 4:33 PM

blix
10/28/09

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Heh! Come to Merkin Outfitters...we'll never rub you the wrong way. #andrewrosssorkin
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Wendy_Kroy
10/21/09

In reply to Goldman Sachs Executive and British Lord Finds Inequality Quite Tolerable
Isn't that "God wants rich people to be wealthy" spiel the credo of The Fellowship, that psychotic Christian sect Sanford and Ensign belonged to, which is founded on the idea that the president of US Steel was a biblical prophet? #goldmansachs
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