First, I find it hard to take an article seriously when it uses phrases and words like "vampire squid," "asshole," "shitload," "pot fuel ideas scrawled on napkins by up-to-late bong smokers" and "Bullshit.com." I gave up after that one.
Certainly Goldman was a player at the table and an article like this feeds well deserved public anger, but in the end it real is sensationalist and smacks of conspiracy theory.
For example the Great Depression in the United States was deepened by the policies of the government restricting the expansion of the money supply. The failure of The New York Bank of the United States although not a government central bank produced a huge panic and further runs on banks while the money supply was allowed to shrink by a third.
During the Tech Bubble sure Goldman underwrote dot com companies that had no real business model, but that is not their fault and they weren't the only ones. It was believed that online businesses would crush the competition by having few fixed assets to support referred to as brick-and-mortar stores. People designed businesses to sell virtually anything online. Investors demanded such investments and easily invested in these businesses, the founders wanted to bring them to market as fast as possible to become millionaires overnight and sure Goldman underwrote some of them, but they were hardly the "engineers of the bubble."
The recent worldwide recession likewise can't be said to be engineered by Goldman although again they were players at the table. This will be studied ad nausium to be sure by academics, but to me it seems to be a failure of the American culture. The invention of the REIT, low interest rates, aggressive agents and lenders, and unrealistic home buyers taking on way more debt than they could ever afford. No one party can be blamed in my view. This was a failure of all of America.
*blush* sorry, but I have to admit this ...I have not read this except for the title and the first few sentences......remember the little note about my going away for the last days of June? and so I bookmarked this since a co-employee in London asked me to read it during my last busy days in June..
...which I will later, now that I have your input above *grin* how's that for having a review first and an opinion from the other side...
for stuff like this, its not as if one believes everything one reads on the papers on the internet, but it sure adds some dimension when one forms opinions and shares them :-)
Hmmmm...... I don't know Cat.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I find it hard to take an article seriously when it uses phrases and words like "vampire squid," "asshole," "shitload," "pot fuel ideas scrawled on napkins by up-to-late bong smokers" and "Bullshit.com." I gave up after that one.
Certainly Goldman was a player at the table and an article like this feeds well deserved public anger, but in the end it real is sensationalist and smacks of conspiracy theory.
For example the Great Depression in the United States was deepened by the policies of the government restricting the expansion of the money supply. The failure of The New York Bank of the United States although not a government central bank produced a huge panic and further runs on banks while the money supply was allowed to shrink by a third.
During the Tech Bubble sure Goldman underwrote dot com companies that had no real business model, but that is not their fault and they weren't the only ones. It was believed that online businesses would crush the competition by having few fixed assets to support referred to as brick-and-mortar stores. People designed businesses to sell virtually anything online. Investors demanded such investments and easily invested in these businesses, the founders wanted to bring them to market as fast as possible to become millionaires overnight and sure Goldman underwrote some of them, but they were hardly the "engineers of the bubble."
The recent worldwide recession likewise can't be said to be engineered by Goldman although again they were players at the table. This will be studied ad nausium to be sure by academics, but to me it seems to be a failure of the American culture. The invention of the REIT, low interest rates, aggressive agents and lenders, and unrealistic home buyers taking on way more debt than they could ever afford. No one party can be blamed in my view. This was a failure of all of America.
That's my two cents.
Take care,
*blush* sorry, but I have to admit this ...I have not read this except for the title and the first few sentences......remember the little note about my going away for the last days of June? and so I bookmarked this since a co-employee in London asked me to read it during my last busy days in June..
ReplyDelete...which I will later, now that I have your input above *grin* how's that for having a review first and an opinion from the other side...
Oh I see. Ha Ha Ha Interesting to have all this input before even reading the story.
ReplyDeleteTake care Cat.
yes, see how canny I can be? hehehe...
ReplyDeletefor stuff like this, its not as if one believes everything one reads on the papers on the internet, but it sure adds some dimension when one forms opinions and shares them :-)