Blogger Reactions: Goldman Subprime Fraud
Commentary on the Goldman SEC fraud investigation from some of my favorite blogs:
Jesse: “This could be construed as a deft way of throwing red meat to the angry mob, nailing a specific individual at Goldman while limiting the criminal charges against the company although there will be significant civil cases, and dealing with the billionaire hedge fund owner Paulson who made a fortune betting against the subprime market.”
Zero Hedge #1: “Creamer has just come to the rescue of this former co-workers at Goldman, claiming a “source” has notified him that Goldman was “long” Abacus. Well, duh – that’s how structured finance works.”
Zero Hedge #2: “What will Buffet’s response be now that Goldman’s ‘ethics’ are exposed?”
Barry Ritholtz: “I’ve been racking my brain for the easiest way to get people to understand what GS did. The best I could come up with was Mel Brook’s “The Producers.” They purposefully tried to create the worst play ever, lose their investors money and pocket the proceeds.”
Mish: “While Goldman can claim it did not “know” anything, the statement rings as hollow as saying we do not “know” if the sun will come up tomorrow. Goldman is nothing more than a giant hedge fund that front runs trades and bets against advice it gives clients, with one important exception.
Yves Smith: “This is also interesting because Paulson appears not to have bought the CDS created to serve as collateral for the transaction, but instead shorted (via Goldman) some of the tranches. We’ve been told that shorting CDO tranches (as opposed to shorting BBB supbrime bonds) was pretty uncommon, but “pretty uncommon” may not be quite as rare as we had been told.”
Bill Black and Barry Ritholtz on Tech Ticker: “Rotten to the core”. Must watch.
Will post more as I come across them.
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How did Big Finance grow so powerful that its hijinks nearly brought down the global economy – and what hope is there for real reform with Washington politicians on Wall Street’s payroll?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04162010/watch.html
Jailed Whistleblower: US Lawmakers Held Offshore UBS Accounts
Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez discusses his interview with UBS
whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld one day after Birkenfield’s Tax Day
clemency request to President Obama.
http://tinyurl.com/y64ce28
A Patriot’s Day Call To Arms
Our government is in a position to grant access to a vast pool of information that could answer so many questions about why all our money was taken. But flush with money from these potentially fraudulent institutions, politicians have systematically gutted the very people charged with investigating these crimes.
As a final insult, they provide 23.7 trillion in direct and implied support for these bankers to keep bonusing themselves billions, yet offer a paltry 0.0000003% of that amount to investigate how this incredibly un-American event happened in the first place.
http://tinyurl.com/y32v5c9
Has SEC COO And Former Goldman Employee Adam Storch Recused Himself From The Investigation?
http://tinyurl.com/y4hag69
listen
White washed…
Alleged Goldman Sachs fraud
April 19, 2010News
Amanda Lang and Kevin O’Leary talk with Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, on the SEC’s civil case against Goldman Sachs
http://tinyurl.com/y23x7oq
President Obama: Bring Back Black
I urge the President to play the race card–the human race card. The Founding Fathers sought to protect the Republic from this tyranny of private interests. This was meant to be a place where all members of the human race have a fair opportunity to thrive.
These show trials and faux ‘investigations” distract us from the real job of reform and protect Wall Street’s interests. It’s time to bring back Black–or regulators like him–and truly give us our “Pecora” moment.
http://tinyurl.com/29dnglc