Rebutting Goldman Sachs’ RebuttalIf you’re tired of the Goldman Sachs/Matt Taibbi-related string of posts on this blog (“Great ‘Legs’: Taibbi on Goldman Sachs“; “Goldman Sachs, Culprit“, “Goldman Sachs’ Nine-Plus Lives”) . . . you’ll want to skip this. However, if you’re not, here is Taibbi’s reaction to the highly orchestrated, very sophisticated PR effort mounted...Read More
Taibbi’s Article: Great ‘Legs’ If online articles were ranked the same way as newly-released (music) singles, Matt Taibbi’s scathing attack on Goldman Sachs in the current issue of Rolling Stone (yup, Rolling Stone) would be number one — with a bullet. If it were a new movie, you’d say Taibbi’s article has ‘legs.’ If you...Read More
Regulatory Capture — Exhibit A Goldman Sachs made out on the housing bubble twice: it f—ed the investors who bought their horsesh-t CDO’s by betting against its own crappy products, then it turned around and f—ed the taxpayer by making him pay off those same bets. –Matt Taibbi, “The Great American Bubble Machine”; Rolling Stone...Read More
Hen House Preservation Principles “Goldman to make record bonus payout.”–headline, guardian.co.uk (6/21/09) Principle #1: When presented with overwhelming evidence that the foxes have taken over the hen house . . . stop adding chickens! Principle #2: It’s not hard to figure out — at least in the short run — which foxes stole the most...Read More
Personal Fortune, Economic Disaster I don’t follow pro sports very closely these days, but growing up, I remember a statistic in basketball and hockey called the “plus/minus ratio.” The goal was to filter out individual statistics like goals scored or baskets made, and instead, focus on each player’s net contribution to their team. The result...Read More
Needed: A New Generation of Bill Seidman’sWhile watching the financial news out of the corner of my eye at lunch, I noticed the name “William Seidman” flash across the screen. For those who don’t recall, Seidman was the crusty, very independent, and scrupulously honest chairman of the FDIC when it dealt — successfully — with...Read More
