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talkpoliticsTODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
It doesn't help that there is momentum on the right to denounce the crisis as caused by 'too much regulation', when from the horse's own mouth you hear the opposite.
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It's apparent at this point that damage mitigation we conducted in 2008/9 was not enough. We need to make these people more accountable and protect investors and consumers. What can we do to stop these corrupt business practices? Is it even possible anymore, in this political climate, to reform our banking system?
The important thing to note is this isn't really about some specific culture at Goldman Sachs- it's about capitalism itself, taken to its extreme it's nothing but exploitation.
link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html
It doesn't help that there is momentum on the right to denounce the crisis as caused by 'too much regulation', when from the horse's own mouth you hear the opposite.
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It's apparent at this point that damage mitigation we conducted in 2008/9 was not enough. We need to make these people more accountable and protect investors and consumers. What can we do to stop these corrupt business practices? Is it even possible anymore, in this political climate, to reform our banking system?
The important thing to note is this isn't really about some specific culture at Goldman Sachs- it's about capitalism itself, taken to its extreme it's nothing but exploitation.
link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html
(no subject)
Date: 15/3/12 21:56 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 16/3/12 11:38 (UTC)Now I'm all for pushing government out of our affairs, but to leave the corporations we have in place to do as they please strikes me as just as bad, because it doesn't deal with the core problems of capitalism such as gross inequalities, exploitation of workers etc. Just a thought.
(no subject)
Date: 15/3/12 21:59 (UTC)_ _ _
People are making fun of this piece by Greg Smith where he talks about his disillusionment with the culture at Goldman Sachs. Smith claims the only focus at GS is making money and people openly disdain the customer. He’s being mocked for thinking it could possibly be otherwise.
But I was reminded of this 1950 quote from George Merck who was president of the pharmaceutical company:
"We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear."
-- Russ Roberts at Cafe Hayek (http://cafehayek.com/2012/03/the-right-way-to-make-money.html)
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Date: 16/3/12 03:34 (UTC)what are we as a society doing generationally to cause such an existence?
you don't have to answer - i'm not even going to attempt it...i just can't help but wonder
(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 03:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 03:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 03:23 (UTC)What we should do is ensure that pension funds and municipalities stop buying stuff they can't understand and maybe stop buying stuff from companies who seem to be ripping them off... over an over. Seriously, why would anyone buy financial products from GS these days is beyond me.
(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 04:51 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 11:42 (UTC)Now if only the Batallions of the USMC (http://SOOO hilarious! Now if only the Batallions of the USMC would get this message through their skulls (pun intended!)) would get this message through their skulls (pun intended!)
(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 07:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/3/12 07:54 (UTC)Since A)both parties have shown a willingness to whore themselves out bareback style to the very banks that need to be reformed and B)most Americans are still a bunch of dumb smiling sheeple who won't throw these two parties out into the street to beg for spare change, I'm going to say it's highly unlikely in the near future.