Taibbi Strikes Again

posted by The Vidiot @ 2:53 PM Permalink

This time, he went after Goldman Sachs. If you read nothing else, read this.

Rubin was the prototypical Goldman banker. He was probably born in a $4,000 suit, he had a face that seemed permanently frozen just short of an apology for being so much smarter than you, and he exuded a Spock-like, emotion-neutral exterior; the only human feeling you could imagine him experiencing was a nightmare about being forced to fly coach.

The whole thing examines the Goldman-enabled bubbles from the Great Depression to tomorrow's Carbon tax.

Goldman sort of replied to the article here.

We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance of being a force for good.

Suuure ya' are, buddy.

It'll make you want to bash your cable box to pieces... mostly because now, when you hear any economic news, you'll understand just how it's rigged against we the people.

As an aside, remember, in "1984", those reports they would issue every day? How many shoes they made, how much chocolate was available and all of the numbers were completely made up and meaningless? Well, lately, when I hear things like "durable goods are up" and "new housing starts are down" I get an immediate and all-encompassing feeling that I'm listening to a Big Brother report of meaningless and propagandizing data.

UPDATED THOUGHT: I don't think Taibbi is right when he lays all the blame at Goldman's doorstep. It wasn't just Goldman that did it. They all did it. The institution did it, or rather, it's the logic of the institution that created the right environment for it. The people are a part of the institution and merely play their roles. They're true believers, to be sure, which is why they performed so well. But they were driven by the logic of the institution: profit at all costs.

Labels: Banking, corporate greed, goldman sachs