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April 2008 - Goldman pays top Obama economics adviser Larry Summers $135,000 for a one-day visit.
October 2008 - ABC News reports that Goldman bankers have been the country's top political campaign contributors for the year.
October 2008 - Former Goldman CEO turned Treasury Secretary Hank Pauslon names Goldman Vice President Neel Kashkari to oversee the $700 billion TARP bailout.
January 2009 - New Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hires former Goldman lobbyist Mark Patterson as his Chief of Staff.
March 2009 - AIG bailout engineered at meeting between Paulson, Geithner, and Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
March 2009 - Obama nominates Goldman executive Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
April 2009 - Goldman hires as its top lobbyist Michael Paese, the top aide to House Financial Services Committee chair Barney Frank.
September 2009 - In an interview on The Colbert Report, Michael Moore identifies Goldman as Obama's top private contributor. PolitiFact rates his statement as True.
July-September 2009 - Goldman nets $3.19 billion profit, breaking the 3-month record it set earlier in the year.
October 2009 - Reuters reports that, for the year, Goldman has set aside $16.7 billion for bonus payments - and is expected to pass $20 billion.
October 2009 - AP reports that Geithner's phone contacts with Blankfein outnumber those with Senate Banking Committee chair Chris Dodd.
Don't forget that Obama has much of his money INVESTED in Goldman Sachs... apparently he believes they will do well... hmm... maybe I should buy some of their stocks... screw the world, this is change we can expect in...
And now a hedge-fund manager arrested for insider trading. Hmmm, seems that he was quite the contributor to democrats.
According to the Federal Election Commission, he is a generous contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. The FEC said he made over $87,000 in contributions to President Barack Obama's campaign, the Democratic National Committee and various campaigns on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in the past five years. The Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group, said he has given a total of $118,000 since 2004 -- all but one contribution, for $5,000, to Democrats.
Billionaire among 6 nabbed in inside trading case - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Billionaire-among-6-nabbed-in-apf-2808194948.html?x=0 - broken link)
Wasn't trying to change the thread topic with my last post. Here is some more GS related news:
According to ABC News in October, 2008, Goldman "spent more than $43 million dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions to cultivate friends and buy influence in Washington, D.C. since 1989" and their "bankers have been the country's top political campaign contributors this year."
Don't forget that Obama has much of his money INVESTED in Goldman Sachs... apparently he believes they will do well... hmm... maybe I should buy some of their stocks... screw the world, this is change we can expect in...
This is just the type of post that makes me want to smack someone. But it dos confirm your nickname in that spreading this sort of nonsense shows a certain amount of evilness and clearly highlights that you are a newbie.
I could care less about Obama or his money, but I challenge you to prove your claim with some facts. Given that all Presidents turn over their assets to a blind trust I think you're going to have a trouble with that though.
As for buying GS stock. Yep, you should have bought some and rode the train, instead it appears you didn't and now feel that somehow because you missed the boat that the world has screwed you. Ah, poor baby.
I just wish the change we would get in this country is for people who's lives aren't going the way they want to face up to the fact that they are the cause of their own problems, not everyone else.
Where do you expect an SEC executive to come from? You want to hire someone from the police department?
I mean seriously, every big financial firm spends money on campaign contributions. SEC executives have to come from somewhere; they almost always come from the financial industry. They need to come from the financial industry because they are the only ones that have any clue how to regulate it. It doesn't mean they will do a good job but you can't exactly hire someone from Microsoft or the FBI.
Where do you expect an SEC executive to come from? You want to hire someone from the police department?
I mean seriously, every big financial firm spends money on campaign contributions. SEC executives have to come from somewhere; they almost always come from the financial industry. They need to come from the financial industry because they are the only ones that have any clue how to regulate it. It doesn't mean they will do a good job but you can't exactly hire someone from Microsoft or the FBI.
I mean I understand your point, there's definitely an obvious conflict of interest in having ex-financial executives, especially from one company, "police" the industry. But I mean Lehman went bankrupt, Bear went under, Merrill and BofA are involved in some activities somewhere between sketchy and fraudulent, Morgan Stanley is just plain mediocre, Citi is (IMO) involved in some real voodoo accounting and has a history of real sketchy accounting practices.
Goldman, is by far, the best managed company in the industry, which would seem to be a better training ground for regulators than companies that repeatedly violate the regulations in place.
I think you're right, there is a problem and downside with it. The question is, I guess, if the alternatives are any better.
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