Goldman Sachs was never all that before the Bush economic collapse. Henry Paulson came riding to the rescue when then US Treasury Secretary John Snow had no clue about what was happening on Wall Street. Snow replaced the Late Paul O'Neil (click here) that wrote a book describing the methods of the "W" White House.
At any rate, Goldman's announcement of a large number of layoffs should be no surprise. Goldman and Paulson put a lot of investment into China and it has blown up in their face.
There will be little sympathy for the year end bonuses.
December 23, 2022By Dan DeFrancesco
When things were going good, Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon could seemingly do no wrong. Last year, thanks to a booming M&A market and a favorable trading environment, life was good at the elite Wall Street bank.
Sure, there were some signs of trouble within Goldman's consumer business, as Insider reported at the time, but who could be bothered worrying about that. Everyone — even the juniors — was making money!
Fast forward to today and boy are things different. The M&A market has been about as quiet as a church mouse, the consumer division is on its last legs, layoffs have hit the bank, and the juniors are getting worked to the bone again.
As if all that wasn't bad enough, word has come down that bankers shouldn't get their hopes up about year-end bonuses. And while most banks plan on handing out lighter payouts, Goldman's are shaping up to be considerably smaller compared with last year....
See, the CEOs of Wall Street don't understand when the USA economy is actually working for the working class and why that is a good thing. For the first time since the early Clinton the USA Middle Class is doing well. It is from my perspective. The salaries of workers have increased and not just a little bit. The average American worker is now making a living wage.
The American worker is not only making a living wage, but, the unemployment insurance that came from the federal government helped them pull out of debt and find a path that would be better for their families. Recently there was an article that Americans have returned to the debt level before the pandemic. That might be the case, but, they are doing so from a better financial base than they had before. And the return to pre-pandemic debt levels were recent, like for the holidays. Who doesn't go into debt at that time of year?
The reason Wall Street can be seen crying in their beer is because the money is no longer at the top, it is in the hands of the people that make the CEO's job possible; the workers, the producers of the wealth, the assembly persons, the folks in the warehouse working tonight to mail out those packages as soon as they can to hopefully make it to Santa in time for his sleight ride. Also the delivery people and the chefs and grocers make living possible even through a pandemic. Not only livable, but, who ever thought Americans would still be getting their favorite pizza through the pandemic?
The CEOs that are not receiving a big check at the end of the year still have reasons to smile. Their companies kept America going through some wickedly bad times. The CEOs also backed candidates that love this country and its people. The Dems kept money flowing as McConnell bellyached the important people weren't getting the help so much as the Middle Class that will simply waste it all. McConnell was complaining during the height of the pandemic that the Middle Class was actually purchasing big ticket items like Quads, Boats and the like. What a jerk McConnell was and still is.
The good news is there will be no recession like Wall Street predicts. Why? Because the American Middle Class is the largest producing and consuming group of people in the USA and the world. When a large number of people are still working, collecting value and worth, purchasing items that sometimes require a loan, there is no recession. Now, Wall Street might be in recession, but, so what. A Wall Street recession simply means the stockholders aren't getting high dividends and CEOs can't collect on that part of their contract because they have not outperformed previous years.
We are fine. What is important is that American workers are finally beginning to trust the power of unions again. Those unions must be in place to protect those increased earnings and most of all continue to guard a safe workplace. Stockholders will always receive a dividend. It is just that the American economy is normalizing and those dividends are not the way of the past. American workers are the best work force in the world and there is every reason they receive the pay they are due and the increase in quality of life for themselves and their families.
Sure, Unions have had a bad reputation in the past. There was fertile ground for corruption. But, it is different today. American workers want their representatives at the bargaining table to be honest and forthright. The members of unions are not a bit afraid to hear the truth about any corruption within their bargaining process. There is an entire governing body at the federal level, the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) (click here) that can protect the members in their fiduciary relationship with their unions. Members can assert their interests if they find dishonest dealings. In the year 2022 American workers are smarter and more interested in the truth and honest dealings than ever before.
The Fed has been doing the right thing in raising interest rates. The Fed has slowed the economy down enough to begin to see the end of the maddening costs of which were perpetrated by greed. The costs are slowly stabilizing and that means wages are worth more than if the cost of goods continued to rise.
The USA is not isolated from the rest of the world though. Issues of national security and the balance of trade is in play and that means changing paradigms. The USA and it's allies need to recover their economies that have been exported to more hostile countries. Additionally, the pandemic is still very real. One place Free People have not concentrated enough interest is the continent of Africa. Africa needs to be more stable and poverty ended. Building economies in Africa can replace the economies of hostile countries. There are over 1.2 billion people living in Africa and they all can become a new economy for American exports. Africa has problems and they are huge problems in places like Somalia, but, if the USA and it's allies don't take an interest in that continent there will always be a Somalia rather than emerging economies.
The paradigms are changing in the world and they are changing for the better. It will be a time of concern and by no means can anyone think their lives are settled. We have a planet to recover from a deadly cycle of heating and a world that is still not safe from terrible weapons of mass destruction.
The American people are doing fine. They need to move forward with their agenda of change and solidify their own well being and not back on Wall Street 401ks that are used far too much as political propaganda. The 401ks are good for one thing and one thing only and that is the percentage the employer is providing and protecting it from being dissolved again because someone no one really knows says investing in risky products bring greater income. That is a lot of nonsense. The hard earned money invested in a 401k along with the employer's contribution should not be lost because of speculation.
Well. Enough for now. Let's enjoy a special time of year no matter the religious faith one practices or simply because it is a lot of fun being an American this time of year.
