By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

I am always amazed at that look of puzzlement on Blankfein’s face when he is asked questions by the FCIC. Where does that come from? He is like a small child who doesn’t want his fun interrupted in order to do his designated household chores.

Auto-tune The Financial Crisis: ‘Bankers’ Song’ Takes On The Financial Crisis (VIDEO)

Huffington Post | posted by Sara Yin

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

Goldman feels heat in suit vs. Dollar Thrifty
New York Post

By JOSH KOSMAN

Goldman Sachs’ mantra that “clients come first” is under fire again.

The investment bank, which is still trying to burnish its reputation after settling fraud charges brought this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission, stands accused in a lawsuit of using information it gleaned from one client to win business from another.

The suit claims Goldman took “non-public information” that it got from advising Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group on one deal and used it to pitch rival Hertz Rental Global Holdings in a bid to win a lucrative investment banking assignment.

Shareholders of Dollar Thrifty, who are suing to block the rental-car company’s $1.2 billion takeover by Hertz so that rival Avis can negotiate a better deal, are questioning the bank’s actions in an attempt to undercut the merits of the deal, although Goldman is not a party to the lawsuit.

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

Goldman swims downstream for PetroAlgae IPO
By Steve Eder

(Reuters) – No client is too small for Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) these days, even a company with no revenue that’s owned by a hedge fund specializing in penny stocks.

In a move that surprised some observers, Goldman earlier this month emerged as the co-lead manager on an initial public offering for PetroAlgae (PALG.OB), a development-stage company that is trying to create oil from algae.

Florida-based PetroAlgae, which plans to raise up to $200 million in the offering, has lost $58 million over the past three years.

The renewable energy technology it is trying to develop is innovative, and other start-ups are trying to capitalize on it as well. But PetroAlgae is by no means a leader in the field. And unlike one of its rivals, it doesn’t have dollars flowing its way from Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), which is expecting to pump $600 million into the emerging industry.

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

Axa cuts stake in Goldman Sachs: documents
AFP
Axa reduces stake in Goldman
Financial Times
AXA Halves Its Goldman Holdings in Quarter
New York Times (blog)
EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Axa Reduces Stake in Goldman Sachs
By Robert Wenzel
Ex-Goldman Execs to Invest in Warehouse Fund
New York Times (blog)Ex-Goldman Executives May Raise $350 Million for Warehouses Fund in India
Bloomberg
Get Briefed: George Walker
Forbes
Prior to working at Neuberger Berman, Walker was a partner at Goldman Sachs ( GS – news – people ) and part of the company’s partnership committee
New Trailer Release for “INSIDE JOB”

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

By Aaron Elstein

Easier board votes give activists chance to punish Blankfein.

Elstein of crains new york business.com says,

Goldman Sachs is target No. 1 for activist investors looking to shake up corporate boards now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has made it easier for shareholders to nominate directors.

Corporate governance activists are looking to replace Goldman directors at the firm’s annual meeting next spring unless the board strips Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein of his position as chairman.

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

Goldman Sachs And SEC Put Meyer Lansky To Shame
Black Star News
In Case of Emergency: What Not to Do
New York Times (blog)
China’s Hot New Bestseller: “The Goldman Sachs Conspiracy”
The Business Insider
Goldman Loses Muscle in Corporate Finance as Bond Share Shrinks
Bloomberg
Basis Urges US Judge to Let Goldman Suit Proceed
BusinessWeek
Chinese Bestseller Slams Goldman Sachs For Crisis
NPR
Arthur Levitt, Policy Advisor, Goldman Sachs | Analyst Wire | Find …
TOM KEENE, HOST ‘BLOOMBERG SURVEILLANCE’

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By Robert Reich, Robert Reich

The public doesn’t understand specific policies but it does understand stories that link them together. The stories give the policies context and meaning, and thereby show where policymakers are taking a nation (and, by implication, where the opposition would take it).

Republicans lack specific policies but they have a story. Obama and the Democrats have lots of specific policies but don’t have a story. That spells even more trouble for Democrats.

The Commerce Department reported today (Friday) that the economy grew only 1.6 percent in the second quarter, which is a fancy way of saying what everyone on Main Street already knows. The economy has stalled. Unemployment is still in the stratosphere and shows no sign of improving. The housing market is worsening.

Why? What to do? The Republican story is simple. It’s the fault of government. They say Obama’s policies have bankrupted the nation and made businesses too uncertain to create jobs. The answer is less government. Cut taxes and spending, privatize, and deregulate.

It’s not a new story but it’s capturing the public’s mind because the Democrats offer no story to counter it with.

Obama and the Democrats respond by defending their specific policies. The stimulus worked, they say, as did the bailout of Wall Street, because the economy is better today than it would be without them. If anything, we need more stimulus. And healthcare reform will protect tens of millions.

A large and growing segment of the public believes none of this. The public doesn’t think in terms of specific policies. All it knows is the economy has stalled and there’s only one story that explains why and points the way forward – and that’s the Republican’s.

What should the Democratic story be? How can they connect the dots?

Here’s a clue. In times of economic stress, Americans lose faith in the nation’s large institutions. They blame either government or its counterpart in the private sector – big business and Wall Street.

Twenty years ago, 42 percent of Americans said they trusted government to do what was right just about always or most of the time. Now, only 25 percent do. Twenty years ago 26 percent they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in big business; now, only 16 percent do. And almost no one trusts Wall Street. The drop in trust toward all major institutions has been most precipitous since the start of 2008.

The underlying political debate in America is which of these is most responsible for the mess we’re in, and which can be most trusted to get us out of it – big business and Wall Street, or government.

It wouldn’t be hard for Democrats to make the case that big business and Wall Street blew it. The Street’s wild speculation took the economy off the cliff, caused the stock market to crash (and millions of 401(k)s along with it), and created a housing bubble whose burst has hurt millions more.

Big business has used the Great Recession as an opportunity to slash payrolls and cut wages and is now sitting on a $1.8 trillion mountain of cash it refuses to use to create new jobs. Instead, it’s using the cash to build more factories abroad, buy back its own shares of stock, invest in more labor-replacing technologies at home, and do mergers that will lead to even fewer jobs.

Meanwhile, a parade of “public-be-damned” actions have threatened small investors (Goldman Sachs’s double dealing), individuals trying to buy health insurance (WellPoint’s double-digit premium increases), worker safety (the Massey mine disaster), the environment (BP), and even our food (Jack DeCoster’s commercial egg operations).

And a gusher of corporate and Wall Street money has flooded Washington, exemplified by Big Pharma and the health-insurance lobby fighting heatlhcare reform, and Wall Street’s minions fighting off stricter financial reform.

If Obama and the Democrats would connect these dots they’d have a story that would make Americans’ hair stand on end. We’re in this mess because of big business and Wall Street. Government is needed to get us out of it.

It’s not that big business and Wall Street are evil. It’s that they’re out to make as much money as possible – which is what they’re set up to do. That’s why we need an activist government to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and protect the public from their excesses.

So why haven’t Obama and the Dems succeeded yet? Big business and Wall Street have used their money and political clout to stop government from doing as much as needs to be done.

The story is clear, and it has the virtue of being the truth. Why won’t Obama and the Democrats tell it? Is it because big business and Wall Street have the money and political clout even to prevent the story from being told?

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Who is Talking About What Matters

Aren’t job losses and foreclosures as important as a “Ground Zero Mosque” (that isn’t a mosque, hasn’t been built or isn’t even at ground zero?)

We know we live in hard times that are on the verge of getting harder with 500,000 new claims for unemployment last week, a recent record.

The stock market may be over for now as fear and panic drives small investors out. Big corporations hoard stashes of cash rather then hire workers. The D-Word (depression) is back in play.

Foreclosures are up, and the administration’s programs to stop them are down, well below their stated goals, only helping 1/6th of those promised assistance.

And here’s a statistic for you: 300,000. That’s the number of foreclosure filings every month for the past 17 months. This year, 1.9 million homes will be lost, down from 2 million last year. Is that progress? In July alone, 92, 858 homes were repossessed.

At the same time, the number of canceled mortgage modifications exceeded the number of successful ones. According to Ml-implode.com, last month, “the number of trial modification cancellations surged to 616,839, greatly outnumbering the 421,804 active permanent modifications.”

And don’t think this is only a problem that affects the homeowners about to go homeless. The New York Times quotes Michael Feder, the chief executive of the real estate data firm Radar Logic to the effect that we are all at risk.

“My concern is that if we have another protracted housing dip, it’s going to bring the economy down,” Mr. Feder said. “If consumers don’t think their houses are worth what they were six months ago, they’re not going to go out and spend money. I’m concerned this problem isn’t being addressed.”

The larger point is that even if you believe the economy is already down, it can go lower. No one knows how to “fix it” either just as BP couldn’t plug the “leak” that, truth be told, is still oozing oil.

So what are we doing about it? Are we demanding debt relief or a moratorium on foreclosures? Are we shutting down the foreclosure factories?

Nope.

Progressives are spending time and wasting passion this August debating on an Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, invariably responding to the provocations and agenda of adversaries. They are always on the defense, never taking the offense.

Who is beating the drum for job creation and a new economic policy? Maybe the unions, but their voice is muted and ignored in the electronic noise machine. Marches are planned by the UAW and Rev. Jesse Jackson on August 28th in Detroit and in Washington on 10.02.10. But the expected war of the words between Rev. Al Sharpton and Glenn Beck over the legacy of the March on Washington is expected to generate more heat.

Meanwhile, even as the administration seems to be finding signs of a “recovery,” a parade of failures march on from the discovery that there is an oil slick the size of Manhattan in the Gulf to the persistence of frauds in finance from state pension funds in New Jersey to the case against the head of the Bank of America.

Even worse, Shorebank, one of the banks that community activists considered a national model of social responsibility has gone down in Chicago, the 104th bank to fail this year with fifteen branches including some in Detroit and Cleveland. It was also active in 40 countries. In June, it reported over $2 billion in deposits. By August, it was gone.

In all, 349 US banks have disappeared since 2007.

ShoreBank promoted itself as a community development and environmental bank. It was based in Michelle Obama’s old neighborhood with the slogan “Lets Change The World.” Now the world of Wall Street has changed the bank with a partnership of investors including American Express, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs taking over under the name “United Partnership.”

Hundreds of other banks are on the FDIC hit parade and may be next.

There were many worse casualties in banking in the past according to Barry James Dyke’s informative book, Pirates of Manhattan. He notes that ten thousand banks failed during the depression and 2,900 bit the dust in the S&L crisis. The current number may have been higher had Congress not bailed out the Banksters who used some of our money to play PacMan, gobbling up smaller institutions.

AP reported, “ShoreBank lost $39.5 million in the second quarter amid soured real estate loans. The bank had been under a so-called cease and desist order from the FDIC for more than a year, requiring it to boost its capital reserves. ShoreBank was able to raise more than $146 million in capital this spring from several big Wall Street institutions. It was unable, however, to secure federal bailout funds it sought from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.”

Republicans are “investigating” alleged administration support for the Bank.

AP explained, “Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to a White House legal adviser asking specific questions on possible contacts between administration officials and executives of ShoreBank or potential investors.

The White House has said no administration officials met with ShoreBank concerning its rescue or requested help from financial institutions on its behalf.”

Questions raised by Republicans, of course, seek to politicize the issue when it is the FDIC ‘s deal with the big banks that needs to be probed, as Zero Hedge explains:

“As it stands, Goldman and 11 other banks are receiving a multimillion dollar gift to conduct a portfolio liquidation run-off of ShoreBank’s assets, while merely making sure existing deposits are serviced.”

(Note: the FDIC is led by a Republican.)

Blogger Mike, “Mish” Shedlock concludes: “The FDIC’s handling of Shore Bank smells as bad as a pile of dead alewives on a Chicago beach in mid-July.”

My question is: Why didn’t the administration help shore up ShoreBank (if it could be shored up) as they did so many of the “too big to fail” banks?

Their hands-off attitude, perhaps in fear of being criticized, as they were anyway, helped doom the bank and, by extension, the idea that we could have socially responsible lending institutions.

So much for the priorities and power of Obama’s “Chicago Mafia.”

If they don’t have the guts to save a bank in their own hometown they know has meant so much to so many, is it any wonder they won’t take on the crimes on Wall Street?

Last week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was complaining that he is being falsely identified as a “Goldman Guy,” insisting he never worked for the financial institution that was recently branded a “Giant Squid On The Face Of Humanity.”

He doesn’t seem to realize that the speculation is not based on the details of his resume but on an assessment of his track record with the pals he worked with when he ran the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

And by the way, Tim, why the hold-up on the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in your old institution? Is she too smart and popular for you?

Why the fiddling while our modern Rome burns?

News Dissector Danny Schechter directed Plunder The Crime of Our Time, a DVD and a companion book, The Crime Of Our Time on the financial crisis as a crime story. Comments to: dissector@mediachannel.org

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The financial meltdown has led to only a few civil and criminal cases against executives, and even those focused on peripheral issues: Goldman Sachs’ peddling of a credit derivative obligation and the communications of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers. But the Securities and Exchange Commission’s securities fraud action against Angelo Mozilo, former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, promises to feature the aggressive mortgage practices of what was then the nation’s largest mortgage lender.

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By Larry Rubinoff, GoldmanSachs666

From FOX Business Network
FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Senior Correspondent Charlie Gasparino is reporting that sources tell him “it was never in the cards” for Goldman Sachs to spin off the firm’s proprietary trading desk.
“Under the Volcker Rule if you are a big bank, you can’t do proprietary trading. You can’t trade with the firm’s own money. There has been lots of talk about the spinoff of this into someone buying it, into a separate firm. That never was in the cards. First priority for Goldman Sachs is to find different places for those proprietary traders to work. Second priority is maybe fold the proprietary trading desk… into an existing fund in the asset management division. The third choice they have is they create a separate hedge fund inside the asset management division. They tell me now that’s the least likelihood.”

“What they tell me over there – there was never any plan to spin the equity proprietary trading desk off, meaning sell it, move it out of the firm. That was never in the works.”

Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxbusiness.com”>video.foxbusiness.com</a>

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