Hank Paulson: American Idol or Public Enemy?

AlterNet rarely pulls its punches and in this case the vitriol is aimed squarely at Hank Paulson, former Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs director and professional conman. What sparked this venom was a eulogy to Hank in the Wall Street Journal by one Evan Newmark, who claims "The Wall Street crisis is over." and that Hank Paulson is a "National Hero". What the WSJ fails to mention is that Newmark is also a former Goldman Sucks managing director.

"Exactly what part of Paulson's record is heroic, Evan? The part where he called up SEC director William Donaldson in 2004 and quietly arranged to get the state to drop capital requirements for the country's top five investment banks? You remember that business, right, Evan? [...] Bear Stearns in just a few years had a debt-to-equity ration of 33-1! Lehman's went to 32-1. By an amazing coincidence, both of these companies exploded just a few years after that meeting, and all of the rest of us, Evan, ended up footing the bill, thanks to a state-sponsored rescue of Bear and a much larger massive bailout of Wall Street in general, necessitated in large part by the damage caused by the chaos surrounding Lehman's collapse." The article goes on to list numerous screw-ups that Paulson then had to cover up with public money. Disgraceful, but I'm certain he has no shame as it is all just business to destroy what little democracy is left in the USA.

I guess the financial criminals in the USA will never be tried or convicted. The media likes to chew on a few small fish to draw the venom from a stung public without ever going after the real targets. As everyone along the chain of incompetence gets paid there is nobody left to push for some justice - all the public is left with is direct action, but I guess American Idol is more important.

Playboy Has No Clothes

The Playboy business is going into freefall. To pull out of this, Playboy are going to increase prices and print fewer copies of the flagship magazine. Smart Bunnies!

from TechCrunch.

Goldman Sucks Blog Threatened With Legal Action

Good to see that bankers Goldman Sachs has its priorities in order. Not satisfied with needing to beg the US government for taxpayer money to stop it from becoming history, it has chosen to use some of those funds to attack a blogger.

Mike Morgan is a registered investment adviser who just a few weeks ago opened the site goldmansachs666.com to push Goldman gripes and a selection of conspiracy theories. In response, Goldman Sucks has employed its rather expensive lawyers to send a cease and desist notice warning Morgan that he faces legal action if the blog is not taken down.

Although the blog has a huge disclaimer at the top, Goldman insists that the use of their name will cause confusion amongst its clients. This shows in what high regard Goldman holds its own clients. There are a few good posts and links on the blog - grab them before they disappear.