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The Great American Bubble Machine
Jul. 23rd, 2009 05:25 pmWonderful - if very lengthy - piece from, of all places, Rolling Stone about the systematic and methodical dismantling of checks and regulations on the American financial sector, sponsored by financial fatcats, that allowed the banks to go berserk on derivatives trading and make a metric shedload of cash. The senior figures pocket the dosh and run, the banks pay no tax and then in most cases either go broke or get bailed out, and the country and its middle-classes and poor end up penniless.
Interesting that none of the old regulations have been re-instated, that the banks are handing out huge bonuses again, still not paying tax and essentially getting away with it all. Nothing has really changed.
Original article:
The Great American Bubble Machine (print view)
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again
By MATT TAIBBI
Pocket summary:
The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
And an amusing rogues' gallery of the chief culprits:
The Dirty Dozen
Meet the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis - and the officials who let them get away with it
Video links, which don't work for me but might if you're in the USA...
Inside The Great American Bubble Machine
Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression
As this last says:
Futher recommended viewing: Overstock's Patrick Byrne on the corruption within Wall Street.
80min long presentation, but it's worth it.
Interesting that none of the old regulations have been re-instated, that the banks are handing out huge bonuses again, still not paying tax and essentially getting away with it all. Nothing has really changed.
Original article:
The Great American Bubble Machine (print view)
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again
By MATT TAIBBI
Pocket summary:
The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
And an amusing rogues' gallery of the chief culprits:
The Dirty Dozen
Meet the bankers and brokers responsible for the financial crisis - and the officials who let them get away with it
Video links, which don't work for me but might if you're in the USA...
Inside The Great American Bubble Machine
Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression
As this last says:
The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi's piece is "an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories" and a spokesman adding, "We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good." Taibbi shot back: "Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it."P.S.
Futher recommended viewing: Overstock's Patrick Byrne on the corruption within Wall Street.
80min long presentation, but it's worth it.
