Robert Scheer: ‘God, What a Piece of Crap’

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



‘God, What a Piece of Crap’
Posted on Apr 28, 2010

By Robert Scheer


It was the Perry Mason moment in the unraveling of what was left of Goldman Sachs’ reputation. Only in this case, it involved a grizzled former prosecutor, Sen. Carl Levin, rather than a genial defense attorney. The case was broken and the truth about the depth of Goldman’s corruption revealed in his startling cross-examination of Goldman Chief Financial Officer David Viniar.

The Michigan Democrat, citing the language of the internal e-mails of Goldman traders concerning the deceptive products they were selling, asked: “And when you heard that your own employees in these e-mails are looking at these deals said `God what a shitty deal. God, what a piece of crap,’ when you hear your own employees and read about those e-mails, do you feel anything?”

Viniar’s answer told us all we need to know about the banal but profound immorality of Goldman’s business culture: “I think that’s very unfortunate to have on e-mail.”

A flabbergasted Levin cut in with “On e-mail? How about feeling that way?” and Viniar, apparently moved by jeers of ridicule from the audience, conceded “I think it is very unfortunate for anyone to have said that in any form.” Pressed further by Levin asking, “How about to believe that and sell them?” the CFO finally conceded, “I think that’s unfortunate as well.” To which Levin responded, “That’s what you should have started with.” .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_a_piece_of_crap_20100428/

[xchrom]

1. 'That's what you should have started with.' if only. Nt

[Berry Cool]

2. Once again, a set of crooks not at all sorry for what they did,

just sorry they got caught.

[stubtoe]

8. Isn't that a definition of a sociopath?

They're incorrigible

[Bluenorthwest]

3. People here are defending this fraud as 'smart'

when it is just theft made possible by lies. Fraud.

[chill_wind]

7. Used car lot sales hucksters are smart operators, too. n/t

[zeemike]

4. oh what a dance they do.

When confronted with evidence of their corruption they express the belief that it was unfortunate and that was not their intent....see here in our public statement it says so.
It is an impenetrable stone wall.

[customerserviceguy]

5. A lot of CEO's would be a bit shocked

to find out what their employees really think of the way their companies do business. I know the one at my company would be.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. They're like robots.

[elias7]

9. I think those high rolling traders knew exactly the risk they were taking.

Paulson was an unknown at the time. His fame is due to the market collapse, so it is disingenuous to imply that bringing his name into the deal would have caused anything more than, "John who?"

Meanwhile, the people who trade in the world of synthetic CDO's are not you and me, but rather high stakes investors/gamblers going for a killing and taking great risks. I believe that 2nd or 3rd order derivatives need to be either strongly regulated or abolished due to the credit/debt multiplier effect if things go bad, but I don't think this case is going to go anywhere. Greedy, possibly sleazy, but not illegal, and with no innocent parties.

[katty]

10. they knew what they were doing: greed in their god

[Wednesdays]

11. K&R

:kick:

[Tutankhamun]

12. The problem right now is that this stuff is going to keep happening.

There's no real regulation taking shape. There's nobody protecting the taxpayers. How many bailouts can we stand? The middle class is going extinct.

I predict Americans will start migrating to Mexico, where people know how to get by in poverty. Current immigration trends will reverse.

[Kablooie]

13. Enron just keeps on coming, over and over again.