Taibbi's Goldman Sachs Rip
"The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere," writes Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi in a 7.2 posting called "The Great American Bubble Machine."
It's a tough, exacting, unmerciful portrait of a bunch of really bad guys. If Michael Moore doesn't use Taibbi as a key talking head in his forthcoming financial meltdown doc, he'll have made a mistake. Taibbi has really made a name for himself with this and his previous piece about the biggest theft in U.S. history.
"The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
"Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain -- an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.
"They achieve this using the same playbook over and over again. The formula is relatively simple: Goldman positions itself in the middle of a speculative bubble, selling investments they know are crap. Then they hoover up vast sums from the middle and lower floors of society with the aid of a crippled and corrupt state that allows it to rewrite the rules in exchange for the relative pennies the bank throws at political patronage.
"Finally, when it all goes bust, leaving millions of ordinary citizens broke and starving, they begin the entire process over again, riding in to rescue us all by lending us back our own money at interest, selling themselves as men above greed, just a bunch of really smart guys keeping the wheels greased. They've been pulling this same stunt over and over since the 1920s -- and now they're preparing to do it again, creating what may be the biggest and most audacious bubble yet."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 3, 2009 at 3:49 PM
comment #1
Ulysses
says ...
Matt is the left-wing's matinee idol, kinda. My wife would dump me for him in a NY minute. I had more hair than him when I was his age.
Posted by Ulysses
at July 3, 2009 4:31 PM
comment #2
corey3rd
says ...
these guys sound worse than any VD plague
Posted by corey3rd
at July 3, 2009 4:57 PM
comment #3
BurmaShave
says ...
"The first thing you should know about us is that we're everywhere"
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 3, 2009 5:24 PM
comment #4
Ray
says ...
It boggles my mind that the American people are letting this happen. I'm not sure what has caused their collective apathy ... fluoride in the water, American Idol, or chemtrails ... but it is startling that this can happen in broad daylight.
What can the average thinking American do?? Stop paying taxes and start another Revolution? It's difficult to say.
Posted by Ray
at July 3, 2009 6:56 PM
comment #5
le corbeau
says ...
The phrase missing from the above post is "Obama administration"
And that's precisely why the Obama-worshipping types can't see what's going on. Goldman takes the cream, labor unions get the milk, the middle class gets squeezed out of existence, and you all get dreamy over the figurehead.
Posted by le corbeau
at July 4, 2009 6:15 AM
comment #6
Teacher's Pets
says ...
Ah, yes, I've been blinded by the non-stop labor union propaganda; who will save us from the ever-growing power of the AFL-CIO and their minion, Barack Obama?
Come live in America, Skip, and see what it's all about before you start dispensing your genius...
By the way, you clearly haven't read anything from Taibbi, who's consistently been a harsh critic of Obama's economic policies...
Posted by Teacher's Pets
at July 4, 2009 7:14 AM
comment #7
George Prager
says ...
All that missing from Skip McCoy, American's comment is Saul Alinsky.
Posted by George Prager
at July 4, 2009 9:11 AM
comment #8
TL
says ...
If only Taibbi's writing wasn't so juvenile....
Posted by TL
at July 6, 2009 2:15 PM
comment #9
weblogtips
says ...
Thanks for sharing. That is a awesome post. Keep posting.
Goldman
Posted by weblogtips
at March 12, 2010 11:23 AM
comment #10
free online games
says ...
You'd wonderful suggestions there. I did a hunt about the matter and found out that probably a lot of people will agree with your blog.
Posted by free online games
at March 18, 2010 10:06 AM
comment #11
sf
says ...
MBT sale all over the world,about 100 million pairs every year.MBT Shoes Sale lots of various tyles,like MBT Chapa Shoes,MBT Lami Shoes,MBT M.Walk Shoes,MBT trainers,MBT 2010,all MBT Sports Shoes styles are good to your doing sports.MBT Shoes clearance !Save more money here! Your best choice,you may also be interested in MBT Shoes.You don't want to miss such a good chance,do you?
Posted by sf
at April 17, 2010 10:17 PM
comment #12
gafi
says ...
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
Best regards,Jane, CEO of virtualization high availability
Posted by gafi
at May 23, 2011 7:26 AM
comment #13
Natali Watson
says ...
Great article!) Thank you!
listen to free music
Posted by Natali Watson
at June 23, 2011 8:02 AM