One morning my brothers and I had a pit war in a cherry tree we were forbidden to be in. When we arrived home in our purplish-red, pit-stained shirts our guilt was obvious and our father rendered what we thought was swift and terrible punishment.
We learned the penalty was too severe to return to the tree of forbidden fruit again. We were never offered a settlement or given an opportunity to “not admit or deny wrongdoing.”
As obvious as the lessons of right and wrong are to children, they seem to be oblivious to our higher educated adult counterparts, especially if they are in Congress, the SEC, or on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs is a prime example.
The May 6th edition of USA Today reported that Goldman Sachs had settled all allegations with the NYSE involving short sales, for $450,000. For their part the terms stipulated that Goldman would not “admit or deny wrongdoing.”
I thought this all had an all too familiar ring, and after some checking I found that it did.
This same Goldman is back in the news lamenting a new set of charges levied against them by the SEC that could cost them more than a billion in settlement dollars, to “not admit or deny wrongdoing.” One article said “Goldman remains furious about being blindsided by the lawsuits filed by the SEC as the regulators did not give the firm a chance to settle.” If this seems audacious, it is, and it fits a pattern of familiarities between Washington, the SEC, and brokerage houses.
This same Goldman Sachs, the one that had just settled for the $450,000.00, was the same Goldman Sachs that had settled a subprime inquiry with the State of Massachusetts in 2009 for 60 million dollars, a settlement that “stopped all further action.”
This same Goldman Sachs was part of a ten brokerage house SEC 2003 complaint that settled fraud allegations for 850 million dollars that they “neither admitted nor denied .” For the record, eight of the ten brokerage houses that dodged criminal accountability in that same settlement went on to receive TARP funds in 2009.
This is also the same Goldman Sachs that contributed 5.9 million dollars in campaign donations to both parties in the 2007-2008 election cycle, including $994,795.00 that went to the Obama campaign. The spread of the donations among influential members would have us believe Goldman is interested in supporting the political interests of both parties.
This same Goldman Sachs has a permanent 12 person lobbying staff. This same Goldman Sachs had its CEO Hank Paulson named Treasury Secretary under the Bush administration. And this same Goldman Sachs had it’s top lobbyist, Mark Patterson, selected to serve as Timothy Geithner’s Chief of Staff.
And, oh yes, it is the same Goldman Sachs that received 10 billion dollars in TARP funds.
If you feel like the DC politicians and Wall Street are at a private party and you weren’t invited, you’re correct. Politicians see nothing wrong, whether it’s Barney Frank defending Fannie and Freddie, Chris Dodd defending Countrywide Mortgage, or both Democrats and Republicans defending the 5.3 million dollars donated in campaign funds by Wall street in this election year alone. It’s an obvious partnership rather than an oversight relationship.
The business of settling matters of fraudulent practices by “neither admitting or denying guilt” is ridiculous. DC postures by day but dines with Wall street by candlelight. The millions of dollars changing hands and inside job swapping is hardly going to change Wall Street’s fraudulent practices. Brokers now know the worst case scenario of getting caught in the cherry tree is that their benefactors will bail them out.
We don’t need new laws and agencies. We need a few honest men in office to stop the pandering, and insist frauds “admit they broke the laws” when they break them. When the watch dogs are fed steak by the people they’re supposed to be watching, and they do it in plain sight, it’s probably time to clean house.
About the author
William Burton wrote 26 articles on this blog.
A political junkie with a home spun view of politics, passionately conservative. Published writer (short stories, political essays, poems), and public speaker. Profiled in, "The Ridiculous Race" by Steve Heely.
Goldman Sachs Cleans Its Dirty Laundry In DC
We learned the penalty was too severe to return to the tree of forbidden fruit again. We were never offered a settlement or given an opportunity to “not admit or deny wrongdoing.”
As obvious as the lessons of right and wrong are to children, they seem to be oblivious to our higher educated adult counterparts, especially if they are in Congress, the SEC, or on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs is a prime example.
The May 6th edition of USA Today reported that Goldman Sachs had settled all allegations with the NYSE involving short sales, for $450,000. For their part the terms stipulated that Goldman would not “admit or deny wrongdoing.”
I thought this all had an all too familiar ring, and after some checking I found that it did.
This same Goldman is back in the news lamenting a new set of charges levied against them by the SEC that could cost them more than a billion in settlement dollars, to “not admit or deny wrongdoing.” One article said “Goldman remains furious about being blindsided by the lawsuits filed by the SEC as the regulators did not give the firm a chance to settle.” If this seems audacious, it is, and it fits a pattern of familiarities between Washington, the SEC, and brokerage houses.
This same Goldman Sachs, the one that had just settled for the $450,000.00, was the same Goldman Sachs that had settled a subprime inquiry with the State of Massachusetts in 2009 for 60 million dollars, a settlement that “stopped all further action.”
This same Goldman Sachs was part of a ten brokerage house SEC 2003 complaint that settled fraud allegations for 850 million dollars that they “neither admitted nor denied .” For the record, eight of the ten brokerage houses that dodged criminal accountability in that same settlement went on to receive TARP funds in 2009.
This is also the same Goldman Sachs that contributed 5.9 million dollars in campaign donations to both parties in the 2007-2008 election cycle, including $994,795.00 that went to the Obama campaign. The spread of the donations among influential members would have us believe Goldman is interested in supporting the political interests of both parties.
This same Goldman Sachs has a permanent 12 person lobbying staff. This same Goldman Sachs had its CEO Hank Paulson named Treasury Secretary under the Bush administration. And this same Goldman Sachs had it’s top lobbyist, Mark Patterson, selected to serve as Timothy Geithner’s Chief of Staff.
And, oh yes, it is the same Goldman Sachs that received 10 billion dollars in TARP funds.
If you feel like the DC politicians and Wall Street are at a private party and you weren’t invited, you’re correct. Politicians see nothing wrong, whether it’s Barney Frank defending Fannie and Freddie, Chris Dodd defending Countrywide Mortgage, or both Democrats and Republicans defending the 5.3 million dollars donated in campaign funds by Wall street in this election year alone. It’s an obvious partnership rather than an oversight relationship.
The business of settling matters of fraudulent practices by “neither admitting or denying guilt” is ridiculous. DC postures by day but dines with Wall street by candlelight.
The millions of dollars changing hands and inside job swapping is hardly going to change Wall Street’s fraudulent practices. Brokers now know the worst case scenario of getting caught in the cherry tree is that their benefactors will bail them out.
We don’t need new laws and agencies. We need a few honest men in office to stop the pandering, and insist frauds “admit they broke the laws” when they break them. When the watch dogs are fed steak by the people they’re supposed to be watching, and they do it in plain sight, it’s probably time to clean house.
About the author
William Burton wrote 26 articles on this blog.
A political junkie with a home spun view of politics, passionately conservative. Published writer (short stories, political essays, poems), and public speaker. Profiled in, "The Ridiculous Race" by Steve Heely.
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