Posted on 04/27/2010 12:38:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, the left's favorite bank, are more than a little suspect - but not for the reasons you might expect.
It's unclear what will happen with the case, involving an exotic investment gone bad, but at the same time, it's clear that the unveiling of the civil action just happened to coincide with President Obama's declaration of war on Wall Street.
There are other unusual "coincidences," too.
Evidence has surfaced that as Goldman's attorneys tried to cut a deal with the SEC over the potential charges, Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein visited the Obama White House at least four times.
The decision whether to sue the bank was so controversial within the SEC that members split 3 to 2 on filing the lawsuit. Chairman Mary Schapiro, an Obama appointee, and the two Democrats on the commission voted yes, while the two Republicans voted no.
Add to this that Goldman just hired former Obama White House counsel Gregory B. Craig, the lawyer who helped President Clinton send 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez back to communist Cuba a decade ago.
Then factor in that Goldman is a creature of the political left and a natural ally of the Democratic Party. It is a big-government lovers' bank that despises the unbridled competition of laissez-faire capitalism. Akin to Fannie Mae in that it generates private profits but forces taxpayers to cover its losses, Goldman loves bailouts and feeding at the public trough.
Former Goldman employees - including Henry Paulson, President George W. Bush's liberal, tree-hugging Treasury secretary - designed the $700-billion-plus "mother of all bailouts" in 2008 and then promptly steered $10 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to the bank. Goldman veteran Neel Kashkari oversaw the doling out of bailout funds.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
For your consideration :
1) Goldman’s political action committee and employees have lavished $693,675 on federal candidates and parties, with roughly 70 percent of the total sum going to Democrats
2) In 2004, the Goldman Sachs Foundation shelled out $35.5 million to liberal nonprofit groups, mostly to environmental organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. There were no recorded contributions to conservative or free-market public-policy organizations. None.
3) Goldman stands to come out ahead if President Obama’s proposed new financial regulatory superagency is created. The bank thrives on complexity and backroom dealing and profits from regulation that puts its smaller competitors at a disadvantage.
4) The House version of the financial measure would create a permanent $4 trillion bailout fund; the Senate version has no dollar limit. Both would make the fleecing of the American taxpayer official government policy.
The legislation also would limit consumer choice, enrich trial lawyers by banning arbitration agreements, grant the government unprecedented power to seize financial firms and do nothing to reform the housing-bubble-creating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
5) Goldman supports mandatory government limits on carbon emissions and probably would reap huge profits from a cap-and-trade emissions-control policy. In 2006, Goldman paid $23 million to purchase a 10 percent interest in the Chicago Climate Exchange, the only U.S. exchange that conducts trading in carbon offsets.
Experts say the U.S. carbon-emissions market could be worth $1 trillion annually by 2020, but trading in carbon offsets won’t generate much profit unless the federal government forces corporations to participate in the trading scheme. It’s in the interests of Goldman, which as of 2007 had committed at least $1 billion to “carbon assets” alternative-energy projects, to lobby hard for carbon controls.
6) If Goldman “loses”, the lawsuit, it stands to pay a few tens of millions of dollars in fines. This is a mere drop in the bucket to a company worth ( according to latest estimates ) close to $900 Billion. To Goldman, this is just a cost of doing business. What’s a little fight between friends ?
For your consideration :
1) Goldman’s political action committee and employees have lavished $693,675 on federal candidates and parties, with roughly 70 percent of the total sum going to Democrats
2) In 2004, the Goldman Sachs Foundation shelled out $35.5 million to liberal nonprofit groups, mostly to environmental organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. There were no recorded contributions to conservative or free-market public-policy organizations. None.
3) Goldman stands to come out ahead if President Obama’s proposed new financial regulatory superagency is created. The bank thrives on complexity and backroom dealing and profits from regulation that puts its smaller competitors at a disadvantage.
4) The House version of the financial measure would create a permanent $4 trillion bailout fund; the Senate version has no dollar limit. Both would make the fleecing of the American taxpayer official government policy.
The legislation also would limit consumer choice, enrich trial lawyers by banning arbitration agreements, grant the government unprecedented power to seize financial firms and do nothing to reform the housing-bubble-creating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
5) Goldman supports mandatory government limits on carbon emissions and probably would reap huge profits from a cap-and-trade emissions-control policy. In 2006, Goldman paid $23 million to purchase a 10 percent interest in the Chicago Climate Exchange, the only U.S. exchange that conducts trading in carbon offsets.
Experts say the U.S. carbon-emissions market could be worth $1 trillion annually by 2020, but trading in carbon offsets won’t generate much profit unless the federal government forces corporations to participate in the trading scheme. It’s in the interests of Goldman, which as of 2007 had committed at least $1 billion to “carbon assets” alternative-energy projects, to lobby hard for carbon controls.
6) If Goldman “loses”, the lawsuit, it stands to pay a few tens of millions of dollars in fines. This is a mere drop in the bucket to a company worth ( according to latest estimates ) close to $900 Billion. To Goldman, this is just a cost of doing business. What’s a little fight between friends ?
Behold liars and traitors:
Cap and Trade is just Kyoto applied on a national basis. Just like Enron was going to make money by trading carbon offsets, Goldmansucks will make money trading what in effect are government mandated tax coupons.
What about looking into Soros $2.8 BILLION take on the shorting of the US housing market in 2008??????
Oh, I think that there are a few very big players in the housing/banking game that made things happen back in 2008. And many of them are not in the US.
ping
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