Goldman Sachs Helped Bury the Economy

The third rant is by Randall Wray, an Economics professor, who writes in full righteous rage which we should all show.  He sees the banks as undertakers and Goldman Sachs is at the forefront of these undertakers of the financial system in the US economy.

Goldman undertook to kill the economy and then make huge profits from the carnage that they caused.  Goldman made profits from fees for selling toxic sub-prime securities that killed pensions and savings; they made huge profits by betting against the zombie economy that they created; they are now in the process of undertaking to buy up foreclosed housing units in order to rent them to those who were foreclosed on!

The banks themselves are actually dead and should be buried along with the dead financial system that the banks have successfully looted. The Central Bank has dressed up the banking bodies to look lovely and solvent.  The banks sell the public expensive coffins in which to place their non-existent wealth.  The banks display their zombie selves to the public and the public should bury the bodies of the TBTF banks.

Where is all that anger from the populace that is needed for change?

Randy Wray:  Why We're Screwed
By Randall Wray - Naked Capitalism
 . . . .

Everything is complexly financed. In the old days a municipal government would sell a twenty year fixed rate bond to finance a sewage system project. Now they hire Goldman to create complex interest rate swaps (or even more complex constant maturity swaps, swaptions, and snowballs) in which they issue a variable rate municipal bond and promise to pay the Squid a fixed rate while the Squid pays them a floating rate linked to LIBOR—which is rigged by the Squid to ensure the municipality gets screwed. Oh, and the municipal government pays upfront fees to Goldman for the sheer joy of getting screwed by Wall Street’s finest.
The top four US Banks hold $171 Trillion worth of derivative deals like this. Derivatives are really just bets by Wall Street that we will get screwed—it is all “insurance” that pays off when we fail. Everything is insured—by them against us.

What is healthcare “insurance”, really? You turn over your salary to Wall Street in the hope that should you need healthcare, they will allow your “service provider” to provide it. But when you need the service, Wall Street will decide whether it can be provided.

Oh, and Wall Street’s undertakers have also placed a bet that you will die sooner than you expect, so it wins twice by denying the coverage.

Read the rest of the essay here