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  1. #1
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    A knee in the nuts ........ for Goldman Sachs

    A knee in the nuts that means serious trouble for Goldman Sachs
    By Iain Martin World Last updated: March 14th, 2012


    Goldman Sachs has 'lost its moral fibre', according to an ex-executive
    In the New York Times there is an absolutely devastating attack on the culture of Goldman Sachs, by one of its senior executives. He announces that he is resigning today because he has had it with the firm's alleged practices. He criticises the way in which one of the world's largest and most important investment banks now looks after the interests of its clients.
    This is what is known as a public relations disaster.
    Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says that he can no longer look students in the eye and tell them that they should want to work at Goldman Sachs.
    He writes:
    When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fibre represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.
    The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.
    What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.
    Goodness, that reference to the history books. This is going to run and run. Smith has got to have a best-selling book on Goldman Sachs and a long speaking-tour in him.
    Watch now for the reaction of the firm and the army of PR people it employs. I am sure it will be said in some quarters that Smith is jumping before he was pushed, etc.
    But it is a very tricky one to handle. If Smith is immediately machine-gunned by legions of Goldman "flacks" – financial PRs – won't it actually rather confirm the thrust of his allegations about the culture of Goldman Sachs? Have they the wit to engage properly?
    Goldman Sachs is no ordinary bank. It is, thanks to the way it survived the financial crisis, and the huge influence it has wielded over politicians, at the centre of the financial-political nexus which concerns so many citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. Blankfein, the firms's chief executive, famously said that it is doing "God's work". He was joking, although it sounded extremely sinister.
    But large institutions that have accrued so much power can be curiously vulnerable when the zeitgeist changes and they are too big to notice. This is a good thing. We are forever hearing that large global corporates and giant technology companies – the denizens of Davos – really run the world now. It is refreshing when we rediscover that a knee in the nuts, in the form of an op-ed in a newspaper, can still have a serious impact A knee in the nuts that means serious trouble for Goldman Sachs – Telegraph Blogs

  2. #2
    euston has flown

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    Quote Originally Posted by crippen
    Goldman Sachs has 'lost its moral fibre', according to an ex-executive
    As if they had any to loose, this chaps just in denial as to just how unpleasantly greedy and ruthless he was when he was actually working there. leaches the lot of them

  3. #3
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    Goldman Sachs director in London quits 'toxic' bank

    Goldman is considered one of the world's top banks

    A manager at US banking giant Goldman Sachs in London has quit, saying he could no longer work there "in good conscience".

    Greg Smith, who headed Goldman's equity derivatives business in Europe, said it was common to hear talk of ripping off their "muppet" clients.

    "The environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it," he wrote in the NY Times

    Mr Smith said in his editorial that he appeared in Goldman's recruitment video, shown at universities around the world.

    "I knew it was time to leave when I realised I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work," he wrote.

    "It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as 'muppets', sometimes over internal email."

    Following the financial crisis, Goldman was among those bailed out by the US taxpayer and came under fire for its business practices, including accusations that it helped Greece hide some of its massive debts.

    Rolling Stone magazine once likened Goldman to "a vampire squid wrapped round the face of humanity".

    Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $550m (£356m) to settle civil fraud charges of misleading investors in 2010 - the biggest fine for a bank in the SEC's history.

    Goldman was also fined £17.5m by the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, for failing to tell it that the bank was being investigated by the SEC.

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/business

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    those guys have no idea about responsibility
    how can we ever trust them with banking again.
    no better than the most ruthless mafia gangster.

  5. #5
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    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?

  6. #6
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    Billy they have the backing of world Govts, thats how we can trust them LOL

    Quote Originally Posted by billy the kid View Post
    those guys have no idea about responsibility
    how can we ever trust them with banking again.
    no better than the most ruthless mafia gangster.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    I did once.....

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    No. but they must get a kick out of,,, calling it an office.
    more like a pig-sty.

  9. #9
    euston has flown

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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog View Post
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    yes and for my sins I worked for them for a short while, until i relised that the crisises and resulting unpaid overtime were a feature of working environment rather than an aberration., plus they seemed to have a sup rising large number of psychopath personality types manning the place.

    Nice building, very nice reception but a bit of a bugger to find as they are apparentally so well known they don't need either their name or a street number on their building; a symptom of many of the issues that we have seen them have post crisis

  10. #10
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    Long term this letter won't hurt them at all. Perhaps short term a few customers may rethink investing with them...

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    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    He was obviously not happy with this years bonus. Ah well more for the rest of them to divvy up.

    Will this ex-employee be returning his lavish salary, bonuses and lifestyle to his ex-employer? Will his wife and children be happy when he gives away all his possessions earned during his occupation with the evil bankers?

    Thought not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Wilson
    Perhaps short term a few customers may rethink investing with them...
    Crap, investors want returns, ethical or not. Excellent PR for an "investment" bank which makes some profits.
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat HermantheGerman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog View Post
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    Is there one person here who needs this ex-Excecutive's Resignation to know the morals of Goldman Sachs ?
    Remember that Lloyd Blankfein said: "I'am just doing God's work".
    Now do I realy need to set my foot inside a Goldman Sachs office ?

    This time the Brits can't do any U.S. bashing here, cause there is no difference between the moral behaviour of London and New York.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog View Post
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    I don't see how it's relevant. Don't need to be in an office to know what's going on, au contraire.

    Even in your case, you had been in the LB office, knew LB insiders quite well and like everyone else you were mislead until their collapse.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Lick
    A manager at US banking giant Goldman Sachs in London has quit, saying he could no longer work there "in good conscience".

    Greg Smith, who headed Goldman's equity derivatives business in Europe, said it was common to hear talk of ripping off their "muppet" clients.

    "The environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it," he wrote in the NY Times
    what was he thinking when he joined ? it's fucking GS, they are in the banking business, not a charity business.

    In difficult times, even at GS, ethics is the first thing to go, and it's true that clients, despite being kings, are also muppets, and are completely clueless. Executives at GS, like everywhere else, are under a lot of pressure to deliver, and squeezing stupid muppets out of cash can be quite hard work, so they should deserve full credit for that. If you are a client at GS, then you are a big wig muppet, and you deserve to be ass raped.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog View Post
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    I don't see how it's relevant. Don't need to be in an office to know what's going on, au contraire.

    Even in your case, you had been in the LB office, knew LB insiders quite well and like everyone else you were mislead until their collapse.
    "LB"? Ladyboy?

  16. #16
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    rip his fookin eyes out
    squeese his balls until he screams for his mother
    50 years ago that was the language
    you'd hear in some scruffy pub with saw-dust on the floor.

    at the end of the day these monsters go home and tell the missus and kids
    yeh i love you too honey.

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat Hampsha's Avatar
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    This is my favorite story of the week. There may be reasons for his speaking out as some say but he said the truth. The financial world doesn't really care about their clients they just want their money. The greediest people don't stop climbing the ladder. Bloodsuckers.

  18. #18
    euston has flown

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    What put goldman into a league of their own within the investment banking is well researched book about the the people who made money out of the housing collapse in the US, called the big short. Goldman were absolutely central in to this. deliberately making up mortgage packages designed to fail and brokering insurance on this packages between their very muppet clients and their not so muppet clients.

    By all rights this company should be joining the trash can with enron and anderson, as should the ratings agencies.
    Last edited by hazz; 17-03-2012 at 02:00 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hampsha View Post
    This is my favorite story of the week. There may be reasons for his speaking out as some say but he said the truth. The financial world doesn't really care about their clients they just want their money. The greediest people don't stop climbing the ladder. Bloodsuckers.
    I dont care I just want my money. This is market economy mate. This drives people to work and to be productive. Any attempts to turn this to soviet union like communist will result in failure. no need to mention euro

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat HermantheGerman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nostromo View Post

    I dont care I just want my money. This is market economy mate. This drives people to work and to be productive. Any attempts to turn this to soviet union like communist will result in failure. no need to mention euro

    With out communist China lending money to the U.S., these companies would already be bankrupt. Greece and the U.S. have a lot in common.
    Is that Market economy mate ?
    Last edited by HermantheGerman; 19-03-2012 at 01:05 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nostromo View Post
    I dont care I just want my money. This is market economy mate. This drives people to work and to be productive. Any attempts to turn this to soviet union like communist will result in failure. no need to mention euro
    You are talking about the free market economy here? It's dead. In fact, it never existed.
    There was nothing free about the market.

    I have written this before:
    No country has ever implemented free market capitalism, unregulated capitalism, completely and utterly. No one.
    And no one wants that.
    Even the self-proclaimed temple of free market capitalism, the USA, isn’t free at all. How about their agriculture subsidies? Or their R&D spending on technology? There would not have been a Microsoft without R&D spending by the Defence Department.
    Or would you like to see an unregulated pharma market, where producers can sell new drugs without costly, lengthy and in-depth testing? Or a job-market without immigration laws, where cheap labour from Africa and Asia can freely move around and replace westerners in factories and as taxi-drivers?
    Is child labour OK for you? According to the free market principles, the consumers might sooner or later – and no one knows when – switch to a more ethical manufacturer, thus forcing the child employer into bankruptcy. Sooner? Later? Maybe never? Even if child employers are forced to stop by the market eventually, is it OK to you that many children have been harmed in the meantime?

    So, you do want regulation, and some backing by the government.
    So: free market capitalism is a myth. It never existed.

    Therefore, we need well balanced regulation by the Government. Not communism, not socialism, but regulated capitalism.

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    Ah yes, and the Euro... nothing wrong with the Euro:

    https://teakdoor.com/issues/99733-do-they-trust-euro-yes-they.html

    Have fun.

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    Quote Originally Posted by HermantheGerman View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by nostromo View Post

    I dont care I just want my money. This is market economy mate. This drives people to work and to be productive. Any attempts to turn this to soviet union like communist will result in failure. no need to mention euro

    With out communist China lending money to the U.S., these companies would already be bankrupt. Greece and the U.S. have a lot in common.
    Is that Market economy mate ?
    It is kinda amusing to see the smug but stupid German patriotards yapping about bailing out Greece, when that coudln't be further than the truth. They are really bailing out German banks, who would be bankrupt, and not Greece. It was the German banks who stupidly lent most of the money to Greece so they could buy useless shit from Germany companies.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by hazz View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by crippen
    Goldman Sachs has 'lost its moral fibre', according to an ex-executive
    As if they had any to loose, this chaps just in denial as to just how unpleasantly greedy and ruthless he was when he was actually working there. leaches the lot of them
    These crony cocksuckers would have been bankrupt if it wasnt for the bailouts in 2008. That goes to show that they are not as bright as their rep says.

    Warren Buffet would have too. He is a big shareholder in Goldmansacks.

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog View Post
    Is there one person here who has set foot into Goldman's offices?
    They own companies that you have probably done business with. Insurance companies, pension funds, tax accounting ect.

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