Goldman Sachs ‘Too Big’ To Care

Have you heard about the recent economic threat to the European Union coming from Greece? Greece has a debt problem that could cause a domino effect in the Euro nations. The Greek currency has been debauched through deficit spending and now countries such as France and Germany are being compromised because their currencies are linked and vulnerable. The intricacies of EU currency agreements for the Euro have made this a ticking time bomb. Creeping away from the crime scene, once again, is that manipulator of markets- Goldman Sachs. Sound familiar?

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke commented last week, “We are looking into a number of questions related to Goldman Sachs and other companies in their derivatives arrangements with Greece. Obviously, using these instruments in a way that potentially destabilizes a company or a country is counterproductive.” You think? Well, we’ve all seen this movie before, haven’t we?

Specifically, Goldman Sachs has operated a “currency swap” exchange in Greece that has served to disguise their debt, not unlike the method used in America where credit default swaps helped strategically to disguise and inflate the housing bubble. The financial marketing of these derivatives conveniently began in 2001 when Greece was trying to meet the debt-criteria stipulations of EU admission. Goldman Sachs reminds me of that AC/DC song, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” except the deeds don’t come cheap to innocent taxpayers who must foot the bill.

Goldman Sachs have long been protected and served by Washington insiders who are connected to both political parties. TARP-champion Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin are the most noted. Paulson was Bush’s Sect. of Treasury and Rubin was Clinton’s. Both men were executives of Goldman Sachs. Is that a conflict of interest? You bet!

Goldman Sachs has paid out billions in bonuses this year and it’s all come dishonestly through the bailout scam, on the backs of the taxpayers.

AIG was the number one counterparty for Goldman Sachs’ credit default swaps. This all sounds rather complicated and “inside baseball,” but the gist of it was simple: these financial instruments were analogous to you buying an insurance policy on your neighbor’s car and then going out to his driveway and pounding it with a sledgehammer in order to collect the claim. Goldman Sachs took out what amounted to billions of dollars worth of “insurance policies” on these toxic assets, which were the bad home mortgages all bundled-up in securities, and then collected the “claim” when the U.S. taxpayer was put on the hook for repairing the damage.

To make things worse, Goldman Sachs took advantage of the Glass Steagall regulatory removal in 1999. The move allowed Wall Street investment firms to take on the nature of banks with all of the attending Fed privileges. These privileges resulted in Goldman Sachs obtaining Fed loans at near zero rates that were subsequently loaned back to the government at a spread of about 3%. This huge, no risk profit amounts to a license to steal!

But, it takes two to tango. The “drunken sailor” spending in Washington is driving up demand for more taxpayer debt. The Bailout mania along with the Stimulus spending is creating record deficits that are fundamentally unsound and unsustainable. Goldman Sachs and their cronies in Washington don’t seem to care, and that’s why there’s something called a Tea Party Movement. Now that these citizens have proven their impact in races such as New Jersey and Massachusetts, even Nancy Pelosi is starting to “warm up” to the Tea Party activists. “Some of it,” Pelosi explains, “is hijacking the good intentions of lots of people who share some of our concerns that we have about the role of special interests.” So what she once derided as “astroturf,” “un-American,” and full of “Nazi symbolism,” she now recognizes as part of her own shared concerns! Amazing.

“It’s government by Goldman Sachs and for Goldman Sachs,” says Steve Milloy, portfolio manager for the Free Enterprise Action Fund. No doubt about it, America is being railroaded. It’s nothing new, but it requires a level of understanding among the citizens so that we can take our country back, before it’s too late! (send comments to: WFC83197@aol.com, or mail to POB 114, Jacksboro, TN 37757).