Golman Sachs President Cohn Playing Coy On TARP Paybacks
Having spent most of our time Lloyd Watching, we haven't observed Goldman President Gary Cohn in the brush too much. Gotta say though, we are digging his style. Watch here how he finds the loophole during a talk with the WSJ re: which bank will be the *FIRST* to repay its TARP money, (verbally) throws the interviewer on his back and says "No, sir, we will indeed quibble over semantics." (We also enjoy the uncanny resemblance to Champ Kind, who will play him in the movie.)
WSJ: One question on everyone's mind's and us and other have raised it several times in the last few days is...does Goldman become the first to give back TARP money?
Cohn: I don't know.
WSJ [confused]: Why not?
Cohn: I can't speak for everyone else who has it. [Since the question was, "will GS be the first," and, conceivably, for all we know, Ken Lewis could be paying BAC's money back right this second, making GS the second to repay.]
WSJ: But you're the president of Goldman Sachs [can 't you speak for yourself?]
Cohn: There may be someone giving it back right now.
WSJ: [Figuring out where he's going with this] Could be.
Cohn: Could be.
[stare each other down]
Cohn: I would have no idea. If you got all the TARP recipients up here maybe we could come up with an answer to that.