Gaddafi’s Corporate Quislings

Things are looking increasingly bleak for Muammar Gaddafi, as the West and its allies continue to pressure those in his inner circle to abandon him. But Gaddafi isn’t the only uncomfortable one, as revelations continue to emerge about the massive, immoral suck-up western companies undertook during the dictator’s brief period of acceptability.

After Gaddafi agreed to give up his pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003, a long list of powerful companies with a deep moral commitment to increased profit beat a path to Gaddafi’s tent, hoping to cash in on everything from the country’s oil to its massive sovereign wealth fund, the Libyan Investment Authority, which Gaddafi controlled. Now details of their coddling of the dictator are slowly dribbling out.

The Trader’s View On Derivatives Reform

Wallace C. Tubeville, a former Goldman Sachs VP and former CEO of derivative broker VMAC, has done us all a service. In a post on New Deal 2.0, he lays out the over-the-counter derivative trader’s view of why financial reform is a bad thing. A level playing field is anathema to the trader. Successful traders [...]

Re: Re: Playing Politics With Goldman

I would point out two things about the SEC suit: The investigation began well before Obama was elected president and Goldman was warned in July 2009 — hardly the height of financial reform debate — that charges were coming. From the Wall Street Journal: Goldman said it first heard from the SEC about the investigation [...]

RE: Playing Politics With Goldman

Republicans have been crying foul over the timing of last Friday’s Securities and Exchange Commission announcement of an investigation into wrong doing by Goldman Sachs. Yes, the timing – just as the Democratic push for financial regulatory reform seemed doomed and just as Goldman’s stock was approaching something close to where it was before President [...]

That Didn’t Take Long…

I mentioned earlier that the Goldman fraud allegations would likely be wielded by Democrats as an exemplar in the financial reform fight. Yup. (Emphasis mine): Washington, DC—Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today in response to SEC charges against Goldman Sachs regarding mortgage investments: “Millions of Nevadans and Americans are struggling every day [...]

Re: More Bad News For Big Banks

Stephen Gandel over at the Curious Capitalist has some more context and analysis on the SEC action against Goldman. Of political import: The first question was who was damaged here. The answer is all of us. First of all, the investors who bought the securities lost about $50 billion on them. Those investors were mostly [...]

More Bad News For Big Banks: Goldman Sachs Charged With Fraud

Last night, at a fundraiser in Florida, President Obama demonstrated just how hard he plans to take it to the banks in the coming months. He compared bank lobbyists to flesh-eating fish. No joke. Now, it’s no surprise that the financial institutions that profit from the status quo have sent hordes of lobbyists to kill [...]