Protestors jeer Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein as he prepares to face US Senators over the banking crisis. Photograph: Jim Young/REUTERS
For those seeking greater satisfaction out of the loss of homes and the exploitation of The American Dream, look to Europe.
.. .Last Thursday, Goldman agreed to pay a $550m fine to settle US regulators' claims that the bank misled investors in (click title to entry - thank you) a mortgage-backed security. Goldman admitted that its marketing materials were incomplete, because they failed to state that the same third party that helped choose the assets had taken a bet against them.
But governments have also been shocked at the emergence of past transactions between Goldman and Greece and Italy, where products the bank helped to sell aided both in hiding government debt. Greece, which used Goldman in a bond sale this year, is practically at war with the bank. A sharp contrast with the situation months before, when Goldman bankers dined with the prime minister in a private meeting overlooking the Acropolis. The relationship broke down, though, after news leaked earlier this year that Goldman was about to strike a bond sale deal with China's sovereign fund – which never materialised....
Something tells me it is going to be a while before Goldman and its cohorts are going to be out of trouble. Don't blame the falling DOW completely on the USA Economy. The picture of 'insecurity' is much bigger than that. And much to the lying Republicans chagrin, the cause is not about socialism either, but, more about exploitive capitalism.
