The Great American Bubble

[fineleg]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print From issue 1082-1083, the story that inflamed Wall Street — Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs seized Washington. From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

Long article - but read it if you get a chance

[Lurker]

Good article but totally one-sided in my opinion. Sure Goldman Sachs, and institutions like GS, have been manipulating the market since kingdom come. But the reason they are able to get away with it is simply because people who have shares managed/influenced by GS do not really give a damn if they end up making money. It is simple capitalism at work, if people are making money via Exxon stocks they do not mind paying 4 bucks at the gas station. A personal anecdote. I am currently doing a project at a Healthcare client. The employees are waiting with baited breath to see how the Health care Reforms turn out. It has absolutely nothing to do with the well being of American population, it is simply a case of their stock values going up depending on the formulation. It is easy to point fingers at GS, not saying its not deserved, but where are the authors who will point a finger at common public and say Hey you also have a big role to play in this eff up. xxx

[Anonymous]

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea .. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. These are tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to choose one. The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower. The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel. The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit. The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there. The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything. At that moment, the tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism..... And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States is doing business today.

[fineleg]

Good article but totally one-sided in my opinion. Sure Goldman Sachs, and institutions like GS, have been manipulating the market since kingdom come. But the reason they are able to get away with it is simply because people who have shares managed/influenced by GS do not really give a damn if they end up making money. It is simple capitalism at work, if people are making money via Exxon stocks they do not mind paying 4 bucks at the gas station. A personal anecdote. I am currently doing a project at a Healthcare client. The employees are waiting with baited breath to see how the Health care Reforms turn out. It has absolutely nothing to do with the well being of American population, it is simply a case of their stock values going up depending on the formulation. It is easy to point fingers at GS, not saying its not deserved, but where are the authors who will point a finger at common public and say Hey you also have a big role to play in this eff up. xxx

Good point Lurker. But IMHO, firms like GS are more to blame than the common public. Common public cannot be expected to understand full ramifications of all the actions (unless they see direct consequences of course).