Am I seeing things? First, Hank Paulson, former CEO of GS, is quickly becoming the effective CEO of the US economy, with apparent complete, mesmerizing control over the pursestrings. He farts, and Congress listens. He is taking over our economy without any public input. Oh yes, the public has been inputting, but our congressional leaders have us on "ignore"!
Now, we find that his successor at GS was the ONLY CEO allowed into a private meeting
"The only Wall Street chief executive participating in the meeting was
Lloyd C. Blankfein of
Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson’s former firm. Mr. Blankfein had particular reason for concern.
Although it was not widely known, Goldman, a Wall Street stalwart that had seemed immune to its rivals’ woes, was A.I.G.’s largest trading partner, according to six people close to the insurer who requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. A collapse of the insurer threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman’s side, several of these people said."
Behind Insurer’s Crisis, Blind Eye to a Web of Risk - Series - NYTimes.com
And now, GS is putting itself into a position to buy up distressed assets (funny, there wasn't a market for these things before, now was there?):
"Goldman is moving quickly to profit from its push into traditional banking by expanding the activities of its Utah industrial loan corporation, a kind of bank that is regulated by authorities in that western US state."
"Goldman also plans to talk to US regulators to identify up to $50bn in assets it could buy from troubled lenders. These, too, would be put under the Utah bank."
302 Moved Temporarily
I think there's a pattern here. What do you want to bet that Hank Paulson owns his GS shares in a "blind trust"?
This bailout is really, REALLY, disgusting.
Did All This Happen to Benefit Goldman Sachs?
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