A must read...

A brilliant article on the crony capitalism that ruled the financial crisis and will
ensure that a chosen few profit from the remains.

Goldman Sachs: “Engineering Every Major Market Manipulation Since The Great Depression”

brilliant indeed, an eye opener... thanks saint for the post, send more please .

Well you'd think if they engineered every single market manipulation since the 1930s that they would have made a lot more money, and wouldn't need bailouts from Buffett.

The guy who wrote this, Matt Taibbi, is clearly a moron.

Calinor said:

Well you'd think if they engineered every single market manipulation since the 1930s that they would have made a lot more money, and wouldn't need bailouts from Buffett.

The guy who wrote this, Matt Taibbi, is clearly a moron.

Click to expand...

Not exactly. They can't make it from thin air and would need some sort of collateral
to take positions thus limiting the amount they can make.

The real issue is not whether or not they have engineered every crisis but the events
of the recent crisis and where it leads next. Matt Taibbi is at least willing to dig deeper into the crisis and point the finger at those who have destroyed our wealth yet pretend to be the victims. The real morons are those who take everything at face value from Bloomberg or the BBC.

A company can make almost zero profits but the insiders get rich, ie they take it out in salaries or by other means.....

The banks that were allowed to stay alive now have an increased monopoly on fees, customers, traders, liquidity, trading edges etc. and will be regulated by an institution who they part-own? and the halls of this institution and the external regulators will be staffed with former bankers?

That can't be good for the consumer or the markets!

And the politicians who allowed this to happen/ helped set all this up will later be richly rewarded with directorships, etc, on leaving office.

Yes sorry if my original post was a little dismissive, I just find it hard to take seriously those kind of simplistic yet over the top headlines like "Goldman Sachs: “Engineering Every Major Market Manipulation Since The Great Depression”

Why does there have to be a culprit or organisation causing the downfall? Why can't people accept that man is suitably ****ed up, that as a species we are capable of causing an almighty mess from our greed, selfishness or stupidity, and that this is the reason for the crises that have and will continue to happen.

There is definitely corruption. But I'm sure there was corruption in biblical times and before.

but the events of the recent crisis and where it leads next.

Click to expand...

A crisis seems to result in a period of panic. Then a period where there is some suffering and some level of hardship, but things were perhaps not as bad as some thought when they panicked, because the system for the most part resumes. Then a period where some realise there is opportunity in this crisis, followed by a boom period where we forget all about the previous panic. We get greedy, selfish, stupid and on...and then crisis again.

Matt Taibbi is at least willing to dig deeper into the crisis and point the finger at those who have destroyed our wealth yet pretend to be the victims

Click to expand...

This part I have trouble understanding. Was wealth really destroyed, or was it just not there in the first place? I tend to think the latter. That people were deceived (or allowed themselves to be) and were writing cheques that they just couldn't cash, while others smiled and nodded and encouraged them to do so. But the wealth wasn't destroyed, it was never there.

Really an excellent article. Everyone needs to go through it.

Calinor said:

Why does there have to be a culprit or organisation causing the downfall? Why can't people accept that man is suitably ****ed up, that as a species we are capable of causing an almighty mess from our greed, selfishness or stupidity, and that this is the reason for the crises that have and will continue to happen.

There is definitely corruption. But I'm sure there was corruption in biblical times and before.

This part I have trouble understanding. Was wealth really destroyed, or was it just not there in the first place? I tend to think the latter. That people were deceived (or allowed themselves to be) and were writing cheques that they just couldn't cash, while others smiled and nodded and encouraged them to do so. But the wealth wasn't destroyed, it was never there.

Click to expand...

First of all, I don't really agree with the concept that because greed was around in biblical times that everyone should turn a blind eye.

I do agree with you that a lot of wealth was false and that people need to wake up to this. What I worry about though is monopoly. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor. The bank bailouts, the fiddled expenses, the phone tapping. Where does it end?