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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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The answers to your questions are to be found in Lewis's "The Big Short" which is the clearest exposition of the racket which Goldman Sachs and others perpetrated. Essentially, they made a fortune first by selling CDOs that were bound to go into default then by selling (and buying through Paulson's hedge fund) insurance policies against that default. It is without question the greatest fraud in the history of world finance and Goldman was at the very centre.
Of course, the sequel is that when the whole house of cards came tumbling down, the Bush Administration (led by former Golman head, Hank Paulson, as treasury secretary) ensured that Goldman was held harmless and indeed pumped billions into the firm both directly and indirectly (through AIG which in turn transferred $20 B to Goldman).
LOL....nice try Vlad, but do not try to lump climate scientists in with bankers. that is totally bogus! There is certainly potential for abuse with the whole cap and trade scheme. I am no expert so I'll simply leave it at that, except to say that IMHO, it would be the "investment bankers and hedge funds" guys perpetating the abuse, not the climate scientists.
Gordon, thanks for the reminder. I just returned from Chapters where I bought the Michael Lewis book, The Big Short. I saw him on 2 talk shows recently and had decided I needed that book. :)
Hi Gordon, Goldman lost around $12 B in market cap yesterday on the news of the charges. Other financials also got hammered, including Manulife which lost around three quarter of a Billion in market cap.
The financials seemed to lead the market out of the downturn and if they tank over this we could see the double dip I was hoping would not come. I think the situation is fragile, particularly considering the slow recovery in many sectors in the U.S. and the problems with some of the Eurozone nations.
It will be interesting to see if investors will consider Goldman a "one off" or if they will lose confidence in the entire financial sector. People don't like to lose around 15% in one day on something so unexpected.
An interesting interview - some financial experts are predicting that major international players like Japan now and China in the future will refuse to accept American dollars because of the devaluation risks!
The answers to your questions are to be found in Lewis's "The Big Short" which is the clearest exposition of the racket which Goldman Sachs and others perpetrated. Essentially, they made a fortune first by selling CDOs that were bound to go into default then by selling (and buying through Paulson's hedge fund) insurance policies against that default. It is without question the greatest fraud in the history of world finance and Goldman was at the very centre.
Of course, the sequel is that when the whole house of cards came tumbling down, the Bush Administration (led by former Golman head, Hank Paulson, as treasury secretary) ensured that Goldman was held harmless and indeed pumped billions into the firm both directly and indirectly (through AIG which in turn transferred $20 B to Goldman).
Well, I finished the book this morning. A fascinating read, it tells the story by following a few of the characters involved. Mostly those hedge fund guys who saw the crisis coming and tried to profit from it. They are actually the heros of the book, as they do battle with the real villians, the bankers. The book educates you about such financial derivatives as credit default swaps, and gives you some understanding about how all this happened. The reckless greed, the lack of ethics, the lack of regulation, and the sheer stupidity that all resulted in this perfect storm of financial armeggedon.
I highly recommend this book by Michael Lewis, The Big Short, inside the Doomsday Machine. You won't put in down until your finished, except for moments when you will get the urge to get pitchfork and torch to storm the wall street fortress.
IMHO, many of these investment bankers (Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, etc.) are guilty of fraud, greed, and stupidity. The fact that they are walking away from the abyss very rich men is infuriating.
But, yeah I listened to this on the daily show, hopefully this starts a chain-reaction exploiting other banks for similar offenses.
It's ironic, what they should have been watching was even more pornographic!
The SEC and government regulators must accept their share of the blame for the financial meltdown, but that does not excuse the behaviour of those Wall Street Bankers.
you don't like WB, GS, bankers ... I see ...
... instead of reading a 266 page "short" book (controversial, by the way) wouldn't it be better to follow a simpler, clearer 3-minute web course ?
Tweet
that is totally bogus! There is certainly potential for abuse with the whole cap and trade scheme. I am no expert so I'll simply leave it at that, except to say that IMHO, it would be the "investment bankers and hedge funds" guys perpetating the abuse, not the climate scientists.
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