It turns out that a NY Fed worked was so disgusted at the lack of oversight of Goldman Sachs that she started recording things. According to the following she has over 45 hours of tape and the contents are devastating:
http://nypost.com/2014/09/26/tapes-showing-meek-oversight-of-goldman-are-about-to-rock-wall-street/
So how bad is this. The following two quotes are pretty remarkable:
David Beim, the Columbia University business professor whose 2009 report on how the NY Fed could improve its oversight of banks — a report which led to Segarra’s hiring — called the ability of banks to co-opt and tame NY Fed workers “regulatory capture.”
Michael Lewis, best-selling author of “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt” and “Liar’s Poker,” said after listening to the tapes: “The Ray Rice video for the financial sector has arrived.”
This reminded me of an opinion in the NY Times written in 2012. It was by Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive director, who wrote an op-ed explaining why his conscience would no longer allow him to work Goldman Sachs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for…
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.
People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.
Goldman Sachs already got bailed out big time in 2008 and 2009. At a minimum, some people are going to be very embarrassed. If this causes something like a stock market crash or another financial meltdown Democrats in office may become scarcer than the California Tiger Salamander.
Before Republicans gloat too much remember that people like Goldman Sachs donate big time to whichever party happens to be in power at the moment. There are certain to be some big name Republicans who are also embarrassed by these disclosures.
TDM