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Fraud*
According to the Collins English Dictionary 10th Edition fraud can be defined as: "deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage".[1] In the broadest sense, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation. Defrauding people or entities of money or valuables is a common purpose of fraud, but there have also been fraudulent "discoveries", e.g. in science, to gain prestige rather than immediate monetary gain
*As defined in Wikipedia

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Who Are the Worthies Who Dare to Challenge Goldman Sachs?

Perhaps we don't give enough credit and praise to those politicians who are really trying to work for the people of America (as opposed to the many who are working for corporations or the banks). Worthy of note for their loyalty to the citizens of the US are Senator Bernie Sanders, former Representative Alan Grayson, and Senator Carl Levin to name only three.

Bloomberg writers, Clea Benson and Phil Mattingly, have admirably profiled Levin and Coburn in the following piece. They report that Levin says he wants the report to lead to "Justice," "Accountability," and "Reform."

To my mind Justice would be done when Goldman Sachs faces criminal charges and a jury of American citizens to answer for their role in the financial crisis.

Accountability
would be reached when Goldman Sachs finally is persuaded not to push against the rules in order to make as much money as possible. A little apology for siphoning all the money into their own coffers would be nice too.

Reform
would be evident when the laws of the land break up the TBTF banks, including Goldman Sachs; when the laws require transparency in all financial transactions, including derivatives; and when the citizens of the US are protected from predatory practices of the banks.

Wall Street Probe Illustrates Clout of Levin's Senate Investigative Panel
By Clea Benson and Phil Mattingly - Bloomberg

When U.S. Senator Carl Levin declared that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) “clearly misled their clients and misled the Congress,” few analysts predicted his allegations would still be reverberating two months later.

The firm’s shares have fallen 16 percent in New York trading since April 13, when Levin’s investigative panel released an exhaustive report on the roots of the 2008 economic meltdown. The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are examining the findings. The Manhattan District Attorney last week joined in with a subpoena to Goldman Sachs.

The bank stuck to muted criticism of the Levin report until yesterday, when people briefed on Goldman Sachs’s strategy said the firm was considering preparing its own document to refute the Senate report’s contention it held a “big short” against the housing market while marketing mortgage-backed securities.

The impact of the two-year inquiry is only the latest illustration of the clout of Levin and his Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Michigan Democrat, who’s headed the panel on and off for a total of six years since 2001, has helped fuel legislative and court action with his focus on issues including sham accounting at Enron Corp., credit-card rules, money-laundering and tax shelters for the wealthy

The subcommittee is “not just overturning some rocks,” Levin, 76, said during a recent interview in his Washington office. “Success is when we lead to reforms or lead to justice and accountability.”

Aiding Dodd-Frank

On Levin’s terms, the panel has succeeded, whether or not regulators and law-enforcement agencies move against Goldman Sachs or others named in the report. At hearings in 2010, Levin deployed e-mails and documents obtained by his investigators as he grilled Goldman Sachs’s leaders, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein. The publicity helped get the Dodd-Frank bill through the Senate, Levin said.

Goldman Sachs is taking on a panel whose structure and history contribute to a record of successful investigations that may be unparalleled among congressional committees. The staff and Levin take pride in being meticulous. As a permanent fixture in a chamber whose members only have to run for office every six years, the panel has the resources and the appetite for spending months or years issuing subpoenas, interviewing witnesses and poring over documents.

The work of the subcommittee also stands out in a town where investigations and white papers often dissolve into partisan strife. By a tradition unique in Congress, the minority party’s staff is involved throughout the inquiry. Members from both parties tend to stick together when presenting conclusions.

Read the entire article here

See the video of Levin here

7 COMMENTS:

Anonymous said...

Read this:
Education officials break down Stockton man's door


The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

"They busted down my door for this," Wright said. "It wasn't even me."

http://www.news10.net/news/article/141072/2/Dept-of-Education-breaks-down-Stockton-mans-door


Then read this..

Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Embarrassingly Lame Federal/”50″ State Attorneys General Mortgage Negotiations Continue

So the AG settlement looks to be a PR fabrication to make this whole exercise look serious. And as we’ve said repeatedly, the notion that this Administration will get tough with banks when they’ve gotten so deeply in bed with them and need their contributions for the 2012 election is sheer fantasy.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/embarrassingly-lame-federal50-state-attorneys-general-mortgage-negotiations-continue.html



...what reform do you really expect? The systems a joke..no penalties for the hand that feeds...and all those futuristic movies where people are victims of an out of control ruling elite get closer each day!

Anonymous said...

Third World America 2011: Forget "Fast Tracking to Anarchy" We've Arrived

U.S. Downward Mobility

The destruction of the middle class has accelerated. Housing values have plummeted, and investors earn negative real rates of inflation adjusted returns on "safe" investments like money market funds. Food, fuel, and medical costs have skyrocketed. Essential civil services are underfunded while taxes escalate. The middle class is sinking fast as saved wealth is destroyed and its standard of living erodes.

After being subjected to a national financial crime wave with no meaningful consequences for white collar criminals, the middle class, the core of many cities and communities, is being subjected to a physical crime wave.

The U.S. escalated its debt to fund the ongoing bailout of the banking system. TARP was a small part of it. The Fed now owns over a trillion in suspect assets it bought from banks, and it daily provides them with almost zero cost money so high spreads help them earn their way out of the financial hole in their balance sheets. No one went to jail, and bankers reward themselves with billions in bonuses.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-tavakoli/third-world-america-2011_b_873200.html

Anonymous said...

Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Call Your Senators Over Sneak Attack On the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/call-your-senators-over-sneak-attack-on-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau.html

Anonymous said...

More song and dance from our politicians...expect NOTHING from Levin's investigation.

Thursday, June 9, 2011
Obama Still Desperately Seeking Anybody But Warren to Head New Consumer Agency

The Administration is playing true to its craven form. And it isn’t hiding that sorry fact terribly well either.

The latest public-be-damned ploy by the Obama Administration is the floating the name of Raj Date, a former McKinsey consultant and financial services industry executive currently ensconced in the nascent Consumer Financial Protection, as the possible new head of the agency.
Team Obama engaged her as an advisor to pretend to the few deluded pro-Obama progressives left in the US that they were serious about reform while getting a mighty inconvenient and popular figure mothballed. But she has embarrassed the Administration by obtusely ignoring its game plan and continuing to look perfectly willing and able to head the agency (notice how the criticisms that she had never run a business and therefore was incapable of building an organization have vanished?).
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/obama-still-desperately-seeking-anybody-but-warren-to-head-new-consumer-agency.html

Anonymous said...

U.S. securities regulators are examining whether Goldman Sachs and other financial firms might have violated bribery laws in dealings with Libya's sovereign-wealth fund.

Enforcement lawyers at the Securities and Exchange Commission are reviewing documents that detail the firms' relationships with the Libyan Investment Authority controlled by Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304778304576373982088581752.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

Anonymous said...

"We must have people capable of real heroism. Not the kind of heroism which ends up in glory, but the kind of heroism which ends up in the truth, in what works, in what is honest and real being brought out and made available to others."
-Werner Erhard

Anonymous said...

Guess saving wall street didn't save main street? I thought that was purpose of tarp?

June 8, 2011
What are the chances the U.S. economy could eventually trigger violence in our country?
Posted: 05:00 PM ET

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

For the first time maybe since the Vietnam War or certainly since the civil rights movement, there are some darkening storm clouds on the civility horizon. A growing number of voices are continuing to suggest that if this economy doesn't turn around, and people can't start feeling optimistic about their futures again, we could be headed for some ugly scenarios. A new CNN poll says 48 percent of Americans think the country is headed for another Great Depression in the next twelve months. That is a stunning number.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/08/what-are-the-chances-the-u-s-economy-could-eventually-trigger-violence-in-our-country/?hpt=hp_t2

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