goldman Sachs Had Bomb-Sniffing Dogs, Police Barricades Before Its Earnings Announcement

[Dinger]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/goldman-sachs-had-bomb-sn_n_432750.html

"As Goldman Sachs prepared to announce its fourth quarter earnings and employee compensation levels yesterday, the bank had bomb-sniffing dogs and police barricades on hand at its New York City headquarters, the New York Post reports.

The decision to boost security as its offices was apparently driven by growing fervor over the bank's huge profits and bonuses. Yesterday, the bank announced that it earned $13.4 billion for the year, and set aside $16 billion for employee compensation. Goldman was widely expected to set aside approximately $20 billion for employee pay, but CFO David Viniar suggested yesterday in a call with reporters that the bank wasn't blind to the "pain and suffering in the world" and "wasn't deaf to the calls for restraint."




Not deaf to calls for restraint, riiiight.

:eyes:

[fascisthunter]

1. I'm Gonna Say it... the Patriot Act wasn't meant for Foreign Terrorists

as much as it's for keeping the masses under the corporate thumb. They knew there would be backlash after they forced fascism on us. Taking away people's rights the way they did, makes us less secure in our own country...

[geckosfeet]

2. Have to agree. But it works for any a$$hole with a bomb.

[Hekate]

3. Mother Jones and Joe Hill, we need you now more than ever. nt

[Downwinder]

4. But, the Corporations are citizens now -- apply the PATRIOT Act to them .

If they do business with terrorists, impound their assets.

[boppers]

5. Aw, they cut 4 billion from 20 billion.

How... cute.

[Strelnikov_]

6. More and more we resemble the last days of Tsarist Russia

Just can't decide if the Obama adminstration is the 'reform' government following the 1905 revolution or the Kerensky government.

Under the pressure of the Russian Revolution of 1905, on August 6, 1905, Sergei Witte issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be an advisory organ. In the subsequent October Manifesto, Nicholas II pledged to introduce basic civil liberties, provide for broad participation in the State Duma, and endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers.

However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power. Just before the creation of the Duma in May 1906, the tsar issued the Fundamental Laws. It stated in part that Tsar's ministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished.



The Russian Provisional Government (Russian: Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917 (Nicholas' manifest of abdication).<2><3> In September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire officially dissolved the newly created Directorate, and the country was officially renamed the Russian Republic (Russian: Российская республика, Rossiyskaya respublika). It is also sometimes known as the "Kerensky Government" after its most prominent leader. It lasted approximately eight months, and ceased to exist after power in Russia was seized by the Bolsheviks in October 1917.

The Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd, and was led first by Prince Georgy L'vov and then by socialist Alexander Kerensky, a prominent member of the Duma and a leader of the movement to unseat the Tsar. Instead of ending Russia's involvement in World War I, the new government launched a fresh offensive against the German and Austro-Hungarian army in July 1917, thereby weakening its popularity among Russia's war-weary people. This Kerensky Offensive, as it was called, was a failure which further eroded support for the government. The Provisional Government was unable to make decisive policy decisions due to political factionalism and a breakdown of state structures.<4> This weakness left the government open to strong challenges from both the right and the left. The Provisional Government's chief adversary on the left was the Petrograd Soviet, which tentatively cooperated with the government at first, but then gradually gained control of the army, factories, and railways.<5> The period of competition for authority ended in late October 1917, when Bolsheviks routed the ministers of the Provisional Government in the events known as the October Revolution, and placed power in the hands of the soviets, or "workers' councils," which they largely controlled.

The weakness of the Provisional Government is perhaps best reflected in the derisive nickname given to Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky: "persuader-in-chief." <6>

[Pharlo]

7. "It earned $13.4 Billion for the year and set aside $ 16 Billion for employee compensation"?

My, sounds like they need to start paying their employees about $ 2.35 an hour and let them make the balance up in tips from grateful clients for whom they earn these generous returns. And, just to make it fair, the tips should all be put into a shared jar to be evenly distributed to ALL employees(IT, custodial, administrative), not just the brokers.

[malaise]

10. That does seem odd n/t

[PJPhreak]

8. This kinda shit makes me...

Wish I had the power of the Q, There would be more than a few Big buildings missing and quite a few billions gone...Poof!

[Cirque du So-What]

9. Hope your embarrassment of riches is worth it, executroids!

You must realize that your days of roaming freely throughout capitalist fantasyland are nearing an end. You are despised by 99.99% of people in your homeland - most of whom wish you would fuck off and die. Nobody needs to actually carry out acts of violence against you or your families; the fact that you believe people would massacre your worthless asses is itself a form of revenge. This fear will permeate your psyche - allowing you to never feel secure, not even in your gated communities or in your locked-down office buildings. The spectre of dying in a hail of bullets, having your molecules scattered to the four winds as a car bomb detonates, or facing a rabid mob of hoi polloi howling for your blood is the stuff of your nightmares. Cowards die a thousand deaths - even more if you seek out the best life-extension technology can buy; may all of you live long, miserable existences - looking over your shoulders for the assassin, the bony finger of Death pointing straight at you.

I don't wish for any actual physical harm to come to any of you. The victims would become martyrs who would provide an excuse for the full power of the police state to be brought to bear against the entire population. But since you have proven yourselves bereft of ordinary human qualities such as sympathy, compassion & generosity, may the demons of fear pester you the rest of your days. Every time you make gods of your bellies, sitting down to your $1,000 meals, may you remember the mafioso who were gunned down with the taste of marinara sauce still on their tongues. It may be the closest any of you ever get to the experience of having a conscience; if that comes with the realization that the rest of us damn your eyes on a daily basis or that a tiny segment - the lunatic fringe - is plotting your violent demise, then so be it. Hope it was all worth it, you greedy fucks.

[merkins]

11. Jump! You Fuckers!

K&R:thumbsup:

[Dinger]

12. : )

:)