Blankfein Takes the Reins of Goldman Spin Machine

Edmundo, what say you to his claim that Goldman Sachs absolutely did not need bailout funds and it was forced down their throat by the UST? This was a VERY well known fact at the time when they were discussing the bailout and how they didnt want a crisis of confidence in select companies because they were accepting bailout funds.

It's a fantasy.

Yes, he raised money from Buffett. But the capital markets were toast. By John Thain's own estimation, Merrill was a week away from bankruptcy when he pissed in Ken Lewis's ear and scuttled the Lehman deal. Goldman was probably three weeks behind them.

That's not to say that Goldman wasn't positioned better than anyone else on the street at the time. They certainly weren't going to let a little thing like fiduciary duty and blatant conflicts of interest keep them from recommending toxic shit to their institutional clients while they themselves were building a massive short interest in the same assets. But they weren't insulated. They'd have gone down, too.

In fact, Blankfein never raised a single objection to TARP. The guy who pissed and moaned the loudest was Kovacevich over at Wells Fargo, insisting they didn't need to be bailed out. Which, of course, was total bullshit as well, because they couldn't even pass the stress test.

Goldman is spinning this yarn about how they just took one for the team in accepting TARP money, and it's easy to see through. Just ask yourself: When has Goldman ever done anything that didn't directly and immediately benefit Goldman? Do you think if they had the balance sheet and the resources to separate themselves from the competition by saying, "Thanks, but no thanks." that there would have been even a moment's deliberation?

Finally, why did former Goldman CEO and current Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson feel the need to hold a secret meeting with Goldman's board in Moscow of all places, well outside U.S. jurisdiction, in the months leading up to the crisis? http://seekingalpha.com/article/167565-the-secret-paulson-goldman-meeti…

So you ask what I say to the claim that they didn't need bailout funds? I say bullshit. I say they were arranging bailout funds before anyone even knew there was a crisis.