Goldman Sachs is in the news everyday. In fact, if TV wanted to have a Goldman Sachs: Hour of Power on Sundays with Lloyd C. Blankfein hosting, it would not be outside the realm of possibility. Mr. Blankfein is the CEO of Goldman Sachs. Recently he gave an interview to the Financial Times of London in which he said that bankers do "God's work". Naturally, a lot of people are angry about his statement, but I would prefer to examine it more closely. Mr. Blankfein went on to explain by saying, "we're very important. We help companies to grow by helping them raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose."
I find nothing wrong with the second statement, but the part about doing "God's work", I have a little difficulty. First, we need to establish whose "God" Mr. Blankfein is talking about. As the world is a very diverse place with many different beliefs, we can not assume that Mr. Blankfein is talking about anyone's God in particular. While no established religions professes to believe in the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, Goldman Sachs' "God" may very well require worship at such an altar. But, from here, I will let the theologians have their say as I am not into discussing theology, but would rather turn to the second part of Mr. Blankfein's statement about the economic good of bankers' activities.
Everything Mr.Blankfein said in his second statement is true, but it is hardly the complete picture. His statement about bankers having a social purpose is true, but incomplete. He does not talk about the issuance of bonds or the borrowing side of the equation. The "buying" of credit ratings from the credit rating agencies is not exactly "God's work" in my opinion. Nor is the purchase of credit default swaps on mortgage-backed bonds that should have never been underwritten in the first place, "God's work". And, where in the cosmos of "God's work" can we explain the need for a Federal Government bailout? Has the Federal Reserve Bank become the new Vatican? If Mr. Blankfein and Goldman Sachs are doing "God's Work", why is a Federal bailout necessary? Render unto the Fed that which is the Fed's, and the rest unto Goldman Sachs?
Read LIAR'S POKER by Michael Lewis and then contrast that book with Lloyd Blankfein's statement that Goldman Sachs is doing "God's work". The fact that this CEO is so out of touch with most Americans does not surprise me. The people at the top of the economic pyramid breathe a rarified air that the rest of us mortals can not appreciate. While they have their heads in the clouds, they believe that the rest of us back down on earth have our heads up our asses. They own the air we breathe, Washington, D.C. and The White House. You see, Mr. Blankfein is after all a Democrat.
Stay tuned.
Posts
3 comments:
Moneythoughts! You've outdone yourself with today's post -- in my humble opinion -- one of your best. (But I'm quite certain the very, very best is yet to come!)
What you wrote prompts me to comment on "social purpose." Historically, mankind has evolved through certain well-defined cultural stages over the millennia. We've "progressed" (to use the term loosely) from Food/Shelter to Family, to Religion to Military to Government and finally, now, to Economics as the "social purpose" or the main focus of our entire culture. (Scholars could parse this out in more detail, but we don't that for this discussion.)
Whatever the primary focus of the culture, everything else served it. In the Middle Ages, it was Religion and everything else worshipped at their altar -- agriculture, family, education, medicine, philosophy, military, government and economics. In modern times, the "social purpose" shifted to the Industrial Revolution and the age of Government -- everything else in the culture had to worship at the altar of Government (and GM -- as Eisenhower avowed: "What's good for GM is good for America.")
Currently, the entire "social purpose" of our culture has shifted to Economics -- everything else now worships at the altar of the Economy (Wall Street, Goldman, etc.). Despite all the seeming distractions (political, entertainment, sports, war, poverty, and other social agendas), at the end of the day, the entire fabric of our culture is woven around Economics and everything (religion, education, politics, art, philosophy, psychology, medicine - you get my point)EVERYTHING else is geared to manifest, support, encourage and defend the God of Economy (Materialism, Money, Goods, Services, Banks, News Media, to name a few).
If you think about it, there are very few enterprises that escape the oppressive rule of Money. Right now, I can't think of any except those brave souls who drop out and become beach bums, or those who are made homeless by our current "social purpose!"
So, Moneythoughts, when you report to us that Blankfein declares that he's "Doing God's Work," he is doing just that. He is part of the Oligarchy that "owns the air we breathe." When you sit atop a throne that you know cannot be toppled, you do tend to think of yourself as omnipotent, invincible and infinite. And why not? When you KNOW in your heart and mind that at the end of the day, there is no army, no government, no press, no power, no force strong enough to oppose you, then why not proclaim to be "Masters of the Universe?"
You do us a service to point this out. We all need to know the name of the altar at which we all worship.
Summer
Have you read Dodd's proposal?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111019995.html
Summer, you ought to start a blog.
Post a Comment