Random Roving: goldman sachs

Showing posts with label goldman sachs. Show all posts

Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Power of Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is all the talk these days. Do you really think that they are going to be punished? If so, you'll have to read this post again:
http://randomroving.blogspot.com/2010/04/uniting-force.html

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Uniting Force

I'll continue to rant about the wasted time and energy of politics. The "them vs us" battle hasn't been this emotional in a long time. But, I argue that "behind the scenes", those "in charge" are really united. This might explain why after the financial meltdown, there has been ZERO reform. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
IN GOLDMAN SACHS WE TRUST????

Dianna Farrell:
Obama Administration: Deputy Director, National Economic Council
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Financial Analyst

Stephen Friedman:
Obama Administration: Chairman, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)

Gary Gensler:
Obama Administration: Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance

Robert Hormats:
Obama Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Group

Philip Murphy:
Obama Administration: Ambassador to Germany
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Head of Goldman Sachs, Frankfurt

Mark Patterson:
Obama Administration: Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Lobbyist 2005-2008; Vice President for Government Relations

John Thain:
Obama Administration: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner
Former Goldman Sachs Title: President and Chief Operating Officer (1999-2003)

Henry Paulson:
Bush II Administration: Secretary, Treasury 2006 - 2009
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Chairman and CEO (1998-2006)

Neel Kashkari:
Bush II Administration: Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, Treasury (2008 – 2009)Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice President, San Francisco; led Information Technology
Security Investment Banking Practice

Reuben Jeffery III:
Bush II Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department (2007 –2009)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Managing Partner Paris until 2002
Security Investment Banking Practice

Robert Steel:
Bush II Administration: Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, Treasury, (2006 – 2008)Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman – 2004

Steve Shafran:
Bush II Administration: Advisor on setting up TARP to Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson 2008
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Private equity business in Asia until 2000

Edward C. Forst:
Bush II Administration: Advisor on setting up TARP to Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson 2008
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Co-head of Goldman’s investment management business

Dan Jester:
Bush II Administration: Advisor on setting up TARP to Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson 2008
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Deputy CFO

Kendrick R. Wilson III:
Bush II Administration: Advisor on setting up TARP to Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson 2008
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Chairman of Goldman’s financial institutions groups

Joshua Bolten:
Bush II Administration: White House Chief of Staff (2006 – 2009)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Executive Director, Legal & Government Affairs (1994-99)

Gary Gensler:
Bush II Administration: Undersecretary, Treasury (1999-2001) and Assistant Secretary, Treasury (1997-1999)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance

Robert Rubin:
Bush II Administration: Secretary, Treasury 1995-1999
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman (1987-90)

Robert Zoellick:
Bush II Administration: United States Trade Representative (2001-2005), Deputy Secretary of State (2005-2006), World Bank President (2007 -)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, International (2006-07)

William C Dudley:
NY Federal Reserve: Current President/CEO
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and managing director – 2007

Stephen Friedman:
NY Federal Reserve: Former Chairman of the Board – 2009
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)
Other Noteworthy Appointees:

Edward Liddy:
Current Title: AIG CEO
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)

Duncan Niederauer:
Current Title: Chair/CEO NYSE
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Managing Director – 2007

Malcolm Turnbull:
Current Title: Federal Leader, Liberal Party, Australia
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner (1998-2001)

Mark Carney:
Current Title: Governor, Bank of Canada
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Managing Director Goldman Sachs Canada until 2003

David Watson:
Current Title: Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Chief European economist

Romano Prodi:
Current Title: Prime Minister of Italy (1996-1998 and 2006-2008) and President of the European Commission (1999-2004)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Paid adviser/consultant 1990
– 1993

Mario Draghi:
Current Title: Governor of the Bank of Italy (2006- )
Former Goldman Sachs Title: European Deputy Chairman/Partner until 2006

Massimo Tononi:
Current Title: Italian Deputy Treasury Chief (2006-2008)
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner 2004 - 2006

Source: http://the-classic-liberal.com/white-goldman-sachs-house/

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Goldman Bubble Machine

This article has been getting a lot of attention....a very interesting read.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Teet

My wife and daughter have been fostering cats and kittens from the animal shelter lately and I've had the opportunity to observe these precious little creatures. One of the funniest things to spectate is when the mama lays down and the kittens bombard her in search of a teet full of milk. They look like kamikazi pilots diving over one another in search of their meal. While there are enough teets for each and every kitten, it's hilarious to watch one abort his/her teet and leep over their siblings to fight for one that is already taken. Then the one that gets pushed off has to aggressively seek a new teet. In the end, they all get fed, but during the process, each one at some point decides he has to search for a teet that might be better.

While on the subject of milking the system, I wasn't shocked yesterday when Hank Paulson announced a major shift in his bailout plan. He stated "the facts have changed". Really? What facts and how can the financial system change that fast in four weeks? The reality is, they are perplexed on how to catch the "falling arrow". Now the auto industry is searching for it's teet. How many teets do the Feds have? At some point, mama's going to say, I'm all out of milk! Then what?

I thought that it would be informative to pass along the list of banks that have announced participation in the Treasury program:

FIRST ROUND
Citgroup $25 billion
Wells Fargo $25 billion
JPMorgan Chase $25 billion
Bank of America $15 billion
Merrill Lynch $10 billion
Goldman Sachs $10 billion
Morgan Stanley $10 billion
Bank of New York $3.0 billion
State Street $2.0 billion
TOTAL $125 billion

SECOND ROUND
PNC $7.7 billion
Capital One $3.6 billion
SunTrust $3.5 billion
Regions Financial $3.5 billion
Fifth Third $3.4 billion
Key $2.5 billion
Comerica $2.25 billion
Northern Trust $1.5 billion
Huntington $1.4 billion
First Horizon $866 million
City National $395 million
Valley National $330 million
Washington Federal $230 million
First Niagara $186 million
TOTAL $31.36 billion

Mission Statement

Friend: What's the mission of this blog?
Kirk: To be honest, I’m not really sure! Since March, 2000, I’ve been concerned with the state of the world and have felt compelled to share. I can’t really explain it.

Friend: A lot of these topics are just plain scary.
Kirk: Fear is an emotion. Read the information with a clear, balanced, and unemotional mind. My intent is not to scare anyone, but to motivate action. One of my favorite Buffet quotes: “It’s one thing to think that it is going to rain. It’s another to build an ark”. Go design and build your ark!

Friend: When did you become such a pessimist?
Kirk: I’m the most optimistic person I know! Pessimism and optimism are emotions. It’s best to make important decisions with as little emotion as possible. In 2000, I became very concerned with the future of our nation, world, and economy. On 9/11/01, those concerns escalated to another level. I believe that in hindsight, the entry into the new millennium will be noted as an important inflection point. To believe that the stock market is going lower does not make one a pessimistic. They say that there is always a bull market in something. In contrast, in 2001 I began to believe that oil and gold were due for a resurgence. So what does it make one that believes one thing is going up and the other down? History has shown that the world is quite cyclical. Through time we’ve had peaceful times and periods of great conflicts. Peace has never lasted forever. My research has led me to believe that tougher times are ahead. That’s not pessimistic, it’s an educated hypothesis. Don’t let fear paralyze you. Don’t be an ostrich.

Friend: Aren’t you obsessing over this?
Kirk: My concern for the future increases each day as I see events unfolding that others have forecasted for some time. Watching the news is like watching a movie replaying that I’ve already seen. When the market started crashing a few weeks ago, I wasn’t shocked at all. I’ve been waiting since May 2000. I see it as a natural cleansing that is required before the next phase of growth can occur. It’s like the appearance of the first blizzard in winter. You know it’s coming and you also know that spring will follow. There’s no need to be pessimistic or concerned because you know what to expect and you know to dress warm and to store up some firewood. But, don’t be a bear and go hide in a cave!

Friend: You seem to be enjoying this!
Kirk: No, this won’t be an enjoyable process, but the final destination and cleansing will be good for all of us as moral, hopeful, optimistic human beings.

Friend: When did you start thinking that you’re so smart?
Kirk: I don’t. I’m actually regurgitating information from people I believe know what they’re doing. I’m a messenger, a facilitator of information. I’m like Cliff Notes, but I’m free!

Friend: Why are you so negative on stocks? I’ve always heard that you should always own stocks.
Kirk: Yes, 90% of the experts will agree with that. Mr. Buffet just told the world so. I believe that there are times to pull out and observe from the sidelines. There’s a time to go for it on “4th and 1” and there’s a time to punt. I don’t believe that it’s time to be Les Miles. Stocks have been great investments for our entire adult life so we don’t know anything else. We’ve only seen a couple of seasons of the Kondratieff Cycle during our adult life.

Friend: Why are you so obsessed with the stock market?
Kirk: Actually I’m not. In May, 2000 I sold 100% of my stocks. Call it a “premature evacuation”! My real interest is aligned with Prechter’s theory that the markets are barometers of mass social mood. I’m thoroughly intrigued with the cyclical nature of historical events and how their timing aligns with market cycles. The purpose is to better understand potential future trends, events, and outcomes. My major concern the last few years is that we are due for a contraction phase. The expansion phase was so good and so long, so the next phase concerns me greatly. Is our generation, the 40-somethings, prepared for adversity? My greatest concern is that we have a 15 year old boy who, in three years, is a candidate for military service if a draft were to be reinstated. In contraction phases, the peace process ends and countries engage in wars. Resource wars for oil and water are very likely. The imperialistic invasion of Iraq is part of the escalating worldwide oil war. I believe that it’s very likely that the draft will reinstate due to the fact that our military is stretched thin and activity on dual fronts will be taxing. Say your prayers.

Friend: Do you really believe that one can predict the future?
Kirk: No I don’t believe that one can predict the exact future. I do believe that history repeats itself and that humans have short memories. With that said, history books are great places to learn. I also believe that the universe is very cyclical. I do believe that I can predict the weather next August in Houston within ten degrees. Yes I’m predicting the future, but it’s based on a consistent long term historical cycle. The timing is very difficult, but if you have a perspective on the character of the next phase, then you can be on watch for the inflection point.

Friend: So what should I do?
Kirk: I’m not qualified to be your financial planner and probably not qualified to be my own! I highly recommend that you watch Chris Martenson’s Crash Course. http://www.chrismartenson.com/crash-course/