Almost three months ago, an absurd story appeared in the Wall Street Journal, which quoted an unnamed senior London-based investment banker, who’d said he’d bet a bunch of people at Davos a few million pounds that Lloyd Blankfein would be out as CEO of Goldman Sachs within two years. It was ridiculous! We thought so, Lloyd thought so, and you know Lucas van Praag thought so, having told the paper, “It is preposterous that The Wall Street Journal would even consider publishing such effluent.” On Friday, the theory was discredited even further when Dick Bové, snapping her fingers and seeing the perfect opportunity to get Ken Lewis off the couch, wrote that she doesn’t think Blankfein and CFO David Viniar will “maintain their positions in the company, and must “fall on their swords for the devastating decline in [Goldman's] persona…for public relations reasons.” All of this is bull shit, obviously. Lloyd will be doing no stepping down and not just because everything in the executive suite is already fitted to the exact measurements of his golden scrot and would be a bitch to replace. So we’ll ask this just once and then move on to more important questions, like what LB’s going to do to Messier Fantabulous once his feet touch US soil (management soliciting suggestions now). Continue reading »