Goldman Sachs' Blood Funnel
Burt Reynolds
By dday
I saw Bill Maher offer Matt Taibbi some pushback last night about his
Rolling Stone piece on Goldman Sachs. Maher wasn't willing to believe that
Goldman has been uniquely positioned to profit from the breakdown of the
financial system and the various bubbles created. Maher offered the
predictable "why just Goldman" response, and Taibbi decided to talk about
the many Goldman officials in high positions in the government. He could
have just pointed to this story that leaped from Zero Hedge to the New York
Times yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
It is the hot new thing on Wall Street, a way for a handful of traders to
master the stock market, peek at investors' orders and, critics say, even
subtly manipulate share prices.
It is called high-frequency trading - and it is suddenly one of the most
talked-about and mysterious forces in the markets [...]
Nearly everyone on Wall Street is wondering how hedge funds and large
banks like Goldman Sachs are making so much money so soon after the
financial system nearly collapsed. High-frequency trading is one answer.
And when a former Goldman Sachs programmer was accused this month of
stealing secret computer codes - software that a federal prosecutor said
could "manipulate markets in unfair ways" - it only added to the mystery.
Goldman acknowledges that it profits from high-frequency trading, but
disputes that it has an unfair advantage.
Yet high-frequency specialists clearly have an edge over typical traders,
let alone ordinary investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission says it
is examining certain aspects of the strategy.
"This is where all the money is getting made," said William H. Donaldson,
former chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange and today
an adviser to a big hedge fund. "If an individual investor doesn't have the
means to keep up, they're at a huge disadvantage."
They literally place their super-fast computers physically close to the
machines that govern NYSE trades, to get the jump on competitors and make
enough pennies off of the brief ups and downs of stocks to rake in mounds of
cash. And in some cases, investors can buy access to buy and sell order
information on certain exchanges that can be used to make these quick
orders. When Chuck Schumer is calling for an investigation of Wall Street,
you know something has gone horribly wrong.
No, Goldman Sachs is not the only organization profiting from this scheme,
or any of the numerous others. But their name keeps surfacing among those
that are, in pretty much every case. I don't know how much evidence it takes
to understand their role in all of this. Taibbi may not have gotten every
single solitary thing right in his very long piece, but he got enough right
to make some very powerful people nervous. And rightly so.
We need to go further in determining what caused this financial crisis and
what pitfalls remain. The new iteration of the Pecora Commission, a
Depression-era panel that uncovered the origins of that crisis, can lead the
way.
http://www.whatcausedthecrisis.com/
We, the undersigned, call on you to fulfill the responsibilities of your
position by joining together in non-partisan cooperation to investigate the
origins of the financial crisis in ways that lead to a full understanding of
the institutions, people and practices that are responsible for our economic
collapse.
In particular, we encourage the adoption of three guidelines that history
has taught us are essential to an effective inquiry:
Appoint a single investigator. This individual must have a proven record
of exposing fraudulent elites and institutions, and must provide a
professional, non-political spirit to the investigation.
Afford no special treatment. No one is off-limits or gets special
protection in the investigation.
Provide the tools to do the job. The investigator must be given ample
budget and time, full subpoena authority, and the ability to hire and fire
staff.
These principles were applied in the 1930s when Congress launched a formal
inquiry into the causes of the Great Depression. That commission - led by
Ferdinand Pecora - was willing to reach into the highest levels of Wall
Street and finance to determine the causes of the economic collapse of 1929.
The courage with which the commission greeted its task - and the revelations
that courage ensured - inspired the sweeping banking and financial reforms
that were the bedrock of our financial system for decades.
Building a new financial foundation requires us to begin on solid ground -
the truth. It is only by illuminating the mistakes of the past that we will
be able to meet the great challenges of the future.
And they can start by photocopying Matt Taibbi's notes.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine
Calling for a Wall Street investigation? Grab your socks and hold your
cocks!
They better put the health care through, and Goldman Sacks can bloody well
pay for it!
I think the evidence of this high-frequency trading is the current barrel
price of oil. There is no basis in reality for it; the world is swimming in
overcapacity yet the price remains high.
Just like housing bubble dollars were being funneled into bonusii for Wall
Street @ssholes, John & Jane Q. Public once again have the honor of coming
up with the dosh for this years bonusii. Not to mention the bailout money.
Not only do these vampires want every dollar in your pocket, they want you
to borrow even more. From them. With interest. Fuggin' loansharks!
So, Paulsen got his bonus. Rumored to be $29 million. Get it? Paulsen was
rewarded for a failed corporation AND given the job of rewarding himself.
Why do you think he was Secretary of the Treasury after leaving Goldman -
Sachs? He needed to reward someone - himself!
Bush has to be the dumbest screwup in American history. He turned America's
treasury over to the James Gang, John Dillinger and Bonnie & Clyde. Now
that's an imbecile!