Goldman Sachs Links and News - April 9, 2010 - Featuring Larry's Corner

Goldman's Nicholas Said to Leave Environmental Commodities Unit
BusinessWeek
Goldman Sachs bet on Greek failure - Webmaster Forum
By Natural Elements

Headlines should read:  Major Banks Cook the Books

As Ronald Reagan used to say, "Here we go again".  More evidence of fraud.  Read the following paragraph taken from the Forbes link below.  It is yet another example of how corrupt our financial system is and how complicit our government must be to took the other way.   I have reprinted the entire article since it is rather short but alarmingly informative.

Report: Banks Understated Debt Levels
Forbes

U.S. Equities
Report: Banks Understated Debt Levels
MarketNewsVideo.com , 04.09.10, 12:29 PM EDT

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, eighteen banks, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs, lowered debt levels just prior to reporting earnings during the past five quarters. The revised data made balance sheets appear to be lest risky.

 Does this seem legal to anyone?  The continued use of creative accounting to "make balance sheets appear to be less risky."   I don't know about any of you but back in the day - when tampering with the books was a crime - the Attorney General would be all over a company for doing this.  Isn't this called "cooking the books"?  Of course it is but eveidently in this two tier justice system we now have, it is ok for the privileged few to commit crimes that the rest of us would rot in jail for.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, eighteen banks, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs, lowered debt levels just prior to reporting earnings during the past five quarters.

The revised data made balance sheets appear to be lest risky. The banks typically understated debt levels that were used to finance security trades by reducing them an average of 42 percent at the end of each fiscal quarter.

Excessive leverage use was a major cause of the 2009 financial crisis, and due to this, banks have become cautious about revealing high levels of debt and risk, fearing that their stock values and credit ratings could decrease.

"...banks have become cautious about revealing high levels of debt and risk, fearing that their stock values and credit ratings could decrease."  Yes, you have to read this line again.  They fear telling the truth would affect their stock values. So, if you are Too Big To Fail or maybe just part of the "round table" it is ok to lie, steal, cheat.  Where is The Federal Rese4rve in all of this?  I know, they probably gave the instructions for that to be done.  Where is the U.S. Treasury in all of this?  They take their marching orders from The Fed.  Where is the FDIC in all of this?  Hmmmm, good question.  Sheila Bair certainly is very outspoken and seems to be unafraid to voice her opinion.   But nothing yet.  Where is the outrage from Congress?  I guess those not running for re election don't want to get involved, those running need the banksters campaign contributions and those holding their seats are simply already bought and paid for.

And did you notice that this article says eighteen banks have done the same.  Is this just coincidence or a very well planned action amongst these banksters?  You be the judge as you may be the only judge to ever pass judgment on this criminal activity to defraud.

As always, this is my opinion, I could be wrong.

More Food For Goldman Thought:

This is a short piece from Future of Capitalism.  Pay attention to the last line which I will highlight in bold.

A New York Times reporter who covered the financial crisis, Stephen Labaton, has been hired by Goldman Sachs as "as a full-time consultant on regulatory and legal issues," the Washington Examiner notices Politico noticing. What the Examiner, Politico, and the New York Observer, which also mentioned the move, do not take note of is that Mr. Labaton's wife is reportedly the deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Europe. I am not suggesting that had anything to do with the Goldman move, but it might be worth looking into.