Goldman, what a shock. I guess if a Republican had been in the White House they would have seen this coming, but one would think Goldman has enough friends even in the current Administration not to have been cold cocked by the SEC announcement on Friday. The smokey intentions of possibly setting up clients to take the downside of a trade is almost inevitable when you are in the financial transaction business as Goldman is and so the great outrage displayed in the media is once again part of the performance art of today's business news industry. Goldman did what Goldman does, hiding in the middle allowing the big dogs eat while collecting fees often times when market conditions are exceptionally dangerous. They have that right. But the long tail of structured products linked from investment firms to rating agencies and finally to wake up stupid clients will certainly reveal a culpability that will be shared by all those who were seeking to stretch financial performance ultimately at the expense of taxpayers.
Greater transparency is clearly an issue which easy to talk about and hard to create. Investment firms do not want it, the Fed and Treasury have told the courts not to reveal their intervention actions, and the banks have recently stated they will take the fight to hide to what extent any of them received bail out funds all the way to the Supreme Court.
This Goldman event will guarantee passage of financial reform but with enough loop holes to allow the creative shadows to hide the next financial disaster.
