Gawker 
Enter your username and password.
New York, 12:20 PM
Sun Nov 29
12 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@gawker.com
Tipline: 646-214-8138
Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder | Email
West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield | Email
Contributing Editors:
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email
Media:
Hamilton Nolan | Email
Politics:
Alex Pareene | Email
Investigations:
John Cook | Email
Entertainment:
Brian Moylan | Email
Nights:
Adrian Chen | Email
Azaria Jagger | Email
Ravi Somaiya | Email
Weekends:
Foster Kamer | Email
Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/22/09
11/22/09
[business.theatlantic.com]
Also, it would be refreshing if NYT, from time to time, kept us guessing as to whether their populist rage would be released, day in/day out. At least they're consistent?
11/22/09
So my question is how much money should GS have made this year without causing an uproar? I fear we are becoming a society that only embraces economic mediocrity.
#greenwithenvy?
11/22/09
I am economically brilliant, too. In fact, this is how brilliant I am. If you give me 12.9 yards of taxpayer money, plus unlimited access to taxpayer funds at 0% interest, plus the guarantee that the taxpayer will bail my ass out if I happen to blow up again, plus a Treasury secretary that goes around harassing journalists that say bad shit about me, I will a) pay myself a bonus of only $8 billion (half as much as GS) b) finance 1 billion dollars! of small business loans (twice as much as GS) and c) get every poster in this site a pony.
Therefore, I am logically vastly more brilliant than the entire GS worforce combined. I demand society's embrace. At least the pretty ones.
11/22/09
11/22/09
I'd be more annoyed if they didn't turn a massive profit with all the propping up they are receiving. When you consider other companies that are being propped up -- I'm talking about you GM -- who still managed to lose billions (and claim they are making PROGRESS!!!), I'm ok with Goldman making bonuses which will be taxed at the top rate.
11/22/09
11/22/09
I would be more sympathetic to the people grumbling about Goldman's success if they were just as loud about GM's failure. You hear very little about the $50 billion bankruptcy bailout and how GM is still in the red, seriously in the red. Goldman has at least paid back the direct money they were forced to take.
Of the two scenarios, I think Goldman is a better situation. Even though Goldman employees, based on my personal experience, are generally pricks.
11/22/09
A) GM represents a huge piece if manufacturing infrastructure. Not just the company itself, but all the little and not so little companies that supply GM.
B) If GM goes down the drain, you throw hundreds of thousands of folks out of work who promptly need gubmint services. And the impact echoes throughout the entire economy. If GS goes, it's a few thousand folks.
C) GM has the existing infrastructure to conduct R&D into more fuel efficient vehicles. This is not something you could build with venture capital from the ground up at this point.
11/22/09
2) Goldman Sachs and their ilk threw the entire world economy into chaos, because of their spectacular greed, and would have gone bankrupt without US taxpayer's help, and they chose to thank us for bailing them out by giving themselves huge bonuses after helping to throw 10% of the US workforce out of business, and making most people's houses worth less than they owe on them. In addition to giving themselves huge rewards for destroying the economy and causing so much misery, they also decided to thank the middle class by raising interest rates on their credit cards. George Bush presided over the greatest theft and the largest transfer of wealth in history, but I see your point, we should probably be advocating for bankers to get bigger bonuses so they can buy more pieces of art, and more yachts, so a few people catering to the ultra rich will still have jobs, rather than keeping Detroit from turning into a ghost town.
11/22/09
First of all, GM and their ilk were run into the ground by manufacturing a shitty product that was marketed poorly. Additionally they were run by crooks who earned salaries/bonuses that rival those on Wall Street -- especially when you consider the fact they didn't make any money. I understand we bailed them out to preserve our manufacturing base, despite the fact they are crappy manufacturers. The US should have doubled down on Ford and left GM to twist in the wind.
As for housing values, Goldman certainly played a role but hardly the only player in this field. Another player was the homeowners that bought homes that they couldn't afford. Mortgage brokers, retail banks and appraisers help round out the cast of characters.
I'm pleased that Goldman was able to pay back the money that was forced upon them and that they took the AIG bailout money and put it to good use. I'd prefer that they sock away some of that money for a rainy day vs giving out such large bonuses. However, our current corporate tax structure discourages that type of behavior.
Bottom line: I'd much rather Goldman be profitable with the bailout money they were given than following GM's example. I can comprehend people being pissed off about GS, but not if they aren't at least as pissed off at GM.
11/22/09
And, too, at a time when the American public is nervous about the future and the future of their kids, the GS folks who raked it in have pretty much assured the financial security, education and health of their children, their children's children etc. etc. etc.
However, to look on the bright side -- with GM we now have a chance to create an entirely new manufacturing infrastructure based on the state-of-the-art energy efficient technologies. This could prove truly transformative, if we don't blow it.
11/22/09
As for the union workers that would have been laid off, I truly feel for them. However, they are in a dying industry and I hope they retool their skills and get out. Or, go work for Ford or some other auto company that is doing it right.
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
But, why bother. Another financial cockroach would just take his place.
11/18/09
08/21/09
If you're going to be a pure capitalist and pay yourself for being a master of the universe, then just do it and be proud of it. I don't like it but if I really care I'll talk to my politicians about it.
The fake hand wringing over it, however, is inexcusable because it attempts to cover up who they really are.
08/21/09
08/21/09
08/21/09
/golf clap
08/21/09
08/21/09
Unless we can all agree that historical implications are out. In which case, that redneck Dobbs and that hysterical bitch Betsy McCaughey need to get the fuck off my lawn and shut up under a sheet in a kitchen somewhere.
08/21/09
08/21/09
But you are correct; there's not a spin or a filter or any other tool that will make Goldman Sachs look like "victims."
08/21/09
08/21/09
08/21/09
08/21/09
Upper-level Goldman Sachs employees most likely include non-Jews, and Main Street wants their heads, too.
08/21/09
The problem isn't the money they paid back. The problem is that everyone ASSUMES Goldman will get bailed out if they stumble, so they have an implicit government backing (like Freddie or Fannie did). So they are quasi-governmental.
I say cap the cash bonuses at 2x base. Sock the rest in restricted stock over a loooong time.
I've got a lot of friends at Goldman, and worked there at one time myself. There are many smart people, but they ain't THAT smart - nor are they smarter than everyone else. It was more the case that Merrill, Lehman, and Bear had no internal controls and were truly run by idiots like O'Neal, Fuld, and Cayne, than it is the case that Goldman is run by a bunch of classical scholars.
08/21/09
The implicit taxpayer backing never goes away now, though. It's part of the regulatory culture of America. The risks of financial collapse are seen as too much of a social burden, so they're just GSE's now. If America can borrow and the banks go bad, they'll be saved - that is, quite simply, the new normal.
I hate it too. Largely because I never got one of those truly ridic payouts before I was established enough, and now it looks like they're going the way of the dodo. What can I say? I'm not ashamed! I'm a mercenary like anyone else in America with skills and I like having money.