Meet The Real Villain Of The Financial Crisis (NYT)
Bethany McLean: “The transaction at the heart of the S.E.C.’s complaint is a microcosm of the entire credit crisis. That is, there are no good guys here. It’s dishonest and ultimately dangerous to pretend that Goldman is the only bad actor. And the worst actor of all is the one leading the charge against Goldman: our government…Come to think about it, shouldn’t Congress have its turn on the hot seat as well? Seeing Goldman executives get their comeuppance may make us all feel better in the short term. But today’s spectacle shouldn’t provide our government with a convenient way to deflect the blame it so richly deserves.”
A Crowd With Pity For Goldman (NYT)
“I don’t want to use the word childish … but it’s childish.” That’s how Kenneth Griffin described the SEC’s decision to pursue a civil fraud case against Goldman. “I think that the disclosure around one transaction being the justification to vilify Goldman Sachs or to pass regulatory reform is just incredible,” Mr. Griffin said. “I think the Goldman Sachs case has clearly energized the Democrats with respect to passing the regulatory reform.”
Tourre: A Hero in Villain’s Garb? (WSJ)
Dennis Berman: “Mr. Tourre, as they say on Wall Street, gets the joke. His job constructing highly structured mortgage products is a farce. And he feels uneasy about it. “[T]he real purpose of my job is to make capital markets more efficient and ultimately provide the US consumer with more efficient ways to leverage and finance himself, so there is a humble, noble and ethical reason for my job :)” he writes to his girlfriend Marine Serres in January 2007. At Goldman’s top levels, there is little farce. Instead, there is what the firm proudly touts as “conflict management”—the thorough, technical handling of competing interests inside and outside the firm.”
Deutsche Bank profit up 49% on investment-bank strength (MarketWatch)
The Germans reported profit of 1.76 billion euros ($2.34 billion), compared with 1.19 billion euros a year earlier and ahead of the 1.39 billion euro consensus estimate of analysts. “This is a low level by peer group standards and, given regulatory developments, suggests limited dividend progression for 2010,” said Nomura analyst Jon Peace in a note to clients.
Deutsche Bank faces U.S. mortgage securities suit (Reuters)
No worries, though, the Krauts aren’t sweating the potential U.S. class-action lawsuit over mortgage-related securities.
Roubini: Greece Just Tip of Debt Crisis Iceberg (CNBC)
“The recent problems faced by Greece are only the tip of a sovereign-debt iceberg in many advanced economies,” Roubini told readers of RGE Monitor. “Bond-market vigilantes already have taken aim at Greece, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Iceland, pushing government bond yields higher.” “Eventually they may take aim at other countries – even Japan and the United States — where fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path,” he wrote.
Finance Bill Hits Impasse In Senate (WSJ)
On a 57-41 vote, Democrats fell short of the 60 votes they needed to begin debate, even losing one of their own.
Nomura Defections Damage Bid to Catch Up With Rivals (Bloomberg)
“The airplane just left the ground last year,” Chief Operating Officer Takumi Shibata said at the event at Tokyo’s Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa. “It needs to gain more altitude.”
“I don’t want to use the word childish … but it’s childish.”
roubini- big fan of ‘just the tip’
Much ado about nothing, the Wall Street Journal gave a shout out to dealbreaker:
Meantime, it’s clear that dealbreaker.com operates under a much different set of journalistic standards,” he said. “The Web site’s employee Bess Levin at no time sought out either the reporter or me for comment before this was published. Had she done so, we would have corrected her misleading assertions. The language in the headline and story is not only factually inaccurate, but personally and professionally offensive. I can assure you, Ms. Levin and Mr. Einhorn, that the Journal is proud of our reporting on this article and the way in which we practice journalism.”
My question is this: when did Dealbreaker or Bess at any point adopt journalistic standards? THIS WILL NOT STAND! I demand my news to be factually inaccurate and downright hilarious.
whats just the tip? Ha, jk jk
-Ashley
I think Tourre should pretend not to be able to speak English.
@3 http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/04/david_einhorn_vs_the_wall_stre_1.html
Hmmmm… what to do what to do…. Them Dems are boxing GS in a corner. If The Oracle has to come to GS’s rescue reputationally, the way he did for Solly’s after the Treasury scandal, then The Oracle can’t be seen getting a special side deal on his derivatives capital requirement.
What GS needs right now is someone like Vikram Pandit, an emasculated figurehead who will let the Feds come in and run the company. Vikky rules!
What will be the effect on this for massage parlor business?
@Bess – are you REALLY sorry? if so, I’m disappointed in you…don’t disappoint.
Did Dollar Dominatrix have any hint of the GS Wells Notice when she downgraded the firm against the grain?
@cluzo- seriously? you’ve been around here that long and you’re actually wondering whether I’m really sorry?
If Einhorn is Finkle…then Finkle must be Einhorn?!?
DJ LIBOR
I remembered the post but not the slur (last week is along time ago).
“What’d they think of the piece? Well, reporting the actual facts instead of pulling them out of the reporter’s ass would’ve improved things slightly. Apparently the Journal got a whole bunch of stuff wrong and now the responsible parties are going to pay. Sorry, kids. Sometimes the nicest hedge fund manager in the world just has to cut a bitch.”
This calls for an examination of the reporter’s ass. That should settle the matter once and for all.
@ BL- “i”m sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings” just made my morning
Nomura needs to gain altitude and Jimmy Cayne is unemployed. Two birds, one stone.
Zieg heil DB!
@Bess – ha! couldn’t resist. “sorry,” as in “it’s not you, it’s me, sorry”…can we get a count down to the tourre/blankfein showdown live blog?
@15 It will have to be a pretty big one. The man’s developed a tolerance
@5 he should testify entirely in mime.
Does anyone have an idea how much money did GS contribute to Andrew Coumo?
Meet the Press last Sunday came up with figures for Obama,Dodd and Shelby.They were in millions!
No wonder Charles Schummer is quiet,too. Not even a word.
Is this the kind or democratic election we want to export to other countries?That politicans can be bought and silenced?
@20: http://www.opensecrets.org
@5 yeah and have Lucas Van Praag sitting next to him, pretending to be the French interpreter but actually just answer for him with his spin