re: #43 Gus 802

Goldman Sachs is another sacred cow amongst the pseudo capitalists. When in doubt blame the regulating agency. Not unlike ENRON. Of course Goldman Sachs is so entrenched in politics that they’re almost untouchables. Sometimes I wonder if we’re about to break out in a “patriotic song” about banks and insurance companies over here.

Yup. Let’s face it, the sacred ‘invisible hand’ of the markets bitchslapped us, picked our pockets, and is even now still giving us the finger (as I put it here recently). It’s enough to make me actually turn socialist or commie, as opposed to just playing one at times to freak people out. :)
The comparison with Enron is very apt. Here’ a nice Taibbi rant from the column I linked:

It was apparent as early as last February that Cassano had basically destroyed not only the unit but perhaps AIG itself. The company announced over $11 billion in losses around that time.

If I’m Jake DeSantis, and I’m really innocent, I’m looking for a job that very instant. And I’m taking the first good job anyone offers me. Because by then I’d have realized that I was working for the latest version of Enron. That the man I’ve been working for the last six or seven years has turned out to be one of the most irresponsible Wall Street villains of all time, a man who single-handedly destroyed the 18th-largest company in the world. If I’m Jake DeSantis, I’m quitting out of moral disgust, because I don’t want to be associated with this kind of behavior.

The only reason I’d stay is if I didn’t have a choice. Which I feel sure is what happened here. If Jake DeSantis didn’t take advantage of an opportunity to get a better job elsewhere with a company that didn’t hide billions in losses and make $500 billion bets with money they didn’t have, that’s his fucking problem.

The notion that I the taxpayer have to pay this asshole a million-dollar bonus because he turned down a better job at a less-guilty company is repugnant to begin with; the notion that he stayed at AIGFP because he expected me to pay him this bonus makes me hate him even more.