(New York Times) -- The Great Vampire Squid has gotten religion. In an interview with The Sunday Times of London, the cocky chief of Goldman Sachs said he understands that a lot of people are “mad and bent out of shape” at blood-sucking banks. “I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer,” Lloyd Blankfein, the C.E.O., told the reporter John Arlidge.
But the little people who are boiling simply don’t understand. And Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, who unforgettably labeled Goldman “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money,” doesn’t understand. Banks, Blankfein explained, are really serving the greater good.
“We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital,” he said. “Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. It’s a virtuous cycle. We have a social purpose.” When Arlidge asked whether it’s possible to make too much money, whether Goldman will ignore the people howling at the moon with rage and go on raking it in, getting richer than God, Blankfein grinned impishly and said he was “doing God’s work.”
Whether he knows it, he’s referring back to The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism — except, of course, the Calvinists would have been outraged by the banks’ vicious — not virtuous — cycle of greed and concupiscence. Blankfein’s trickle-down catechism isn’t working. Now we have two economies. We have recovering banks while we have 10-plus percent unemployment and 17.5 percent underemployment. The gross thing about the Wall Street of the last decade is how much its success was not shared with society. Goldmine Sachs, as it’s known, is out for Goldmine Sachs.
As many Americans continue to struggle, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, banks that took government bailout money after throwing the entire world into crisis, have said they will dish out $30 billion in bonuses — up 60 percent from last year. The saying used to be, whatever happens, the lawyers win. Now, it’s whatever happens, the bankers win...
As one former Goldman banker told Arlidge, the culture there is “completely money-obsessed. ... There’s always room — need — for more. If you are not getting a bigger house or a bigger boat, you’re falling behind. It’s an addiction.” It’s an addiction that Washington has done little to quell. President Obama has not been strong on the issue, and Timothy Geithner coddles the wanton bankers whenever they freak out that they might not be able to put in their new pools next summer. The bankers try to dismiss calls for regulation as populist ravings, but the insane inequity of it cannot be dismissed. No sooner had the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd announced his plan to overhaul financial regulation Tuesday than compensation experts declared it toothless. The banks and their lobbyists wheedled concession after concession out of Washington and knocked down proposed inhibition after inhibition. Now the banks are laughing all the way to the bank...
And as far as doing God’s work, I think the bankers who took government money and then gave out obscene bonuses are the same self-interested sorts Jesus threw out of the temple.--Maureen Dowd...LINK
FOR LIBERTARIAN NATIONALISM: ANTI-CORPORATIST, ANTI-COMMUNIST, ANTI-GLOBALIST...PRO-SOVEREIGNTY, PRO-POPULIST, PRO-FREE ENTERPRISE
My Other Blog & Comments
News and Information Feed
-
Template:Mainpageright18 minutes ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Lauren Southern’s bombshell memoir1 hour ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What did BRICS just declare?1 hour ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
USA Is Not Home in Minneapoladishu3 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Taibbi and Tracey and Sleboda4 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Wait... al-Qaeda are the good guys now?!5 hours ago
-
-
News Briefs – 07/15/20256 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/14/202515 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Gay Boy Summer2 days ago
-
Ann Coulter2 days ago
-
-
The America Party Plan2 days ago
-
-
-
-
Crush the Armed Insurrection3 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Belsen camp2 weeks ago
-
-
The End Of Free Will2 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
Trump, the Fake “American”4 weeks ago
-
-
-
A World Without iPhones?5 weeks ago
-
-
-
Thursday, May 1, 20252 months ago
-
Headline 3: The Future In Prophecy2 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
TFeed Index 20246 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
Federal_Nanny_State8 months ago
-
-
-
-
Surviving this Hurricane Season1 year ago
-
Hello world!1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Imagine Being This Desperate1 year ago
-
-
-
-
U.S. Openly Militarizes Space1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Conversations With Cabbies2 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Man, Bear, Pig Event Coming3 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What a Wonderful Stocking Stuffer!3 years ago
-
test3 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
#273 – Marc Randolph3 years ago
-
My Farewell Announcement3 years ago
-
My Farewell Announcement3 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Farewell, for now4 years ago
-
-
Audio Book Lost Colony of Hatteras4 years ago
-
-
Cancel Yourself4 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The Non-Jewish Origins of Krav Maga4 years ago
-
-
Why the Marines are dumping their tanks5 years ago
-
-
-
-
The Socio-Sexual Hierarchy: ALPHA6 years ago
-
-
Home: A Recap7 years ago
-
Big Brother’s War on Cash7 years ago
-
-
-
-
By: Osamas Pajamas11 years ago
-
Form Post11 years ago
-
Join Our Mailing List13 years ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment