Goldman Sachs and Chinese Drywall

Let me start by saying I have no information that Goldman Sachs had anything whatsoever to do with the Chinese Drywall issues plaguing home owners, but I want to make a point, how ignoring signs, signals, warnings and Americans crying out for help . . . will turn into something that we cannot fix without a huge cost. In fact, with Goldman Sachs, it is more like Humpty Dumpty. We will NOT be able to fix the damage they have done and continue to do to our financial system and our futures. So here is something I posted this morning on my real estate blogs about Chinese Drywall . . . and how it reminds me of how we are letting Goldman Sachs get away with whatever they want, because just like the home builders had politicians and regulators in their pockets, Goldman Sachs owns Washington and just about every Governor in the United States.

Chinese Drywall - After receiving dozens of phone calls, emails and media requests regarding Chinese Drywall, I will post this one and only post regarding Chinese Drywall.

Almost five years ago, I started a campaign against home builders building defective homes. It was a costly battle both financially and personally. My meetings and conversations with politicians were met with puppy like stares . . . simply because they could not afford to piss off home builders, their attorneys and their friends and families. At that time, we were in the middle of a housing bubble, and politicians only cared about one thing . . . campaign contributions and jobs after they left office. Ken Pruitt, formerly the Florida Senate leader, was a perfect example of a politician that couldn't have cared less.

U.S. Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez were no different. And the same for a dozen Congressmen I contacted.

At that time, we knew homes were defective. We had definitive proof. More importantly, there were some very disturbing health issues popping up that were not connected to the physical defects. We knew something was wrong. It was clear that there was something in the air of these homes . . . but not a single government building inspector, nor a single politicians wanted to go up against the builders.

Now we are talking about a bailout for the home buyers of these homes, which will indirectly bail out the home builders. Nonsense. Once again, we want to ignore the consequences of bad behavior. Chinese Drywall could potentially put several home builders out of business. It just depends upon how hard the class action attorneys push this issue, and whether we see any long lasting health issues.

Sadly, a lot of the drywall that was installed could have been prevented if the home builders involved had taken the complaints seriously and done some internal investigations. I leave you with a quote from one of the country's greatest hypocrites.

Here is an excerpt from a speech Elizabeth Dole made as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. January 21, 1979

"for too many Americans, the dream home has turned into a nightmare. You know as well as I do that as families move into their own little Garden of Eden, more and more are finding the apple full of worms. As a result, some home buyers believe they are being bilked for thousands of dollars, and they are expressing not only anguish but outrage. Shoddy building practices can be concealed from many purchasers who cannot be expected to have the technical expertise to evaluate the structural soundness of a home or the quality of electrical, plumbing, or air conditioning systems. The patience of the American consumer is rapidly running out. Consumers are demanding more protection from the government, not LESS. The consumer movement is no longer made up of small bands of activists with no troops standing behind them; the consumer movement is now part of our culture it embraces every one of us. And it will not be denied over an issue so fundamental as decent housing"

Wake Up America!

My Goldman Sachs P.S. The same ignorance our politicians and regulators exhibited during the housing bubble, is what we are experiencing today with Goldman Sachs and other Banksters. Five years from now we will wonder why our pension funds are empty. We will wonder where all of our hard earned dollars have gone, while the boys and girls from Goldman Sachs will be sipping drinks on the beach.