Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein: Sanders candidacy a 'dangerous moment'

[Phokus]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/lloyd-blankfein-bernie-sanders-218689

If you're a mainstreet American, this is basically an endorsement for bernie. These Wall Street scumbags are shaking in their boots

 

[BoberFett]

On the flip side...

http://freebeacon.com/blog/goldman-sachs-is-ready-for-hillary/

And I'm sure JHhhamasdghdjdmbnbbnn will be in here any moment to tell me that I'd never vote for Bernie, and I'm a Republican astroturfer and to stop being mean to his girlfriend...

 

[brianmanahan]

even if bernie got elected, none of the really edgy financial reform he wants (transaction taxes, etc) would pass

if he got enough support he might be able to eke out an increase in cap gains/qualified dividend tax brackets, but i doubt he could get it changed to ordinary income.

 

[Phokus]

even if bernie got elected, none of the really edgy financial reform he wants (transaction taxes, etc) would pass

if he got enough support he might be able to eke out an increase in cap gains/qualified dividend tax brackets, but i doubt he could get it changed to ordinary income.

He could push his justice department to go after Wall Street on criminal charges though, maybe give the SEC more teeth too.

 

[Jimzz]

He could push his justice department to go after Wall Street on criminal charges though, maybe give the SEC more teeth too.

Yea the policy he would want may not go through but he would not put people from the same places in the Gov to "watch" or be in charge of going after them.
That is probably the big banks biggest worry, they will not have their own people in charge of the agencies that are supposed to watch them.

 

[Grooveriding]

The most significant thing he could do is put caps on total allowed political donations received and allowed expenditures on campaigns. Taking the money out of your politics would be a big step.

Isn't this guy the scumbag who took a bailout of taxpayers dollars to save his business and then sued the government for the terms of that bailout not being fair?

 

[BoberFett]

Yea the policy he would want may not go through but he would not put people from the same places in the Gov to "watch" or be in charge of going after them.
That is probably the big banks biggest worry, they will not have their own people in charge of the agencies that are supposed to watch them.

This. I don't think some people understand just how much power the unelected bureaucracy has.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/lloyd-blankfein-bernie-sanders-218689

If you're a mainstreet American, this is basically an endorsement for bernie. These Wall Street scumbags are shaking in their boots

Best endorsement I have ever heard!

Not even exaggerating.

 

[glenn1]

He could push his justice department to go after Wall Street on criminal charges though, maybe give the SEC more teeth too.

On what charges? Pretty much everyone was involved in the real estate bubble. If losing money and needing a bailout is your issue then the auto makers might never leave jail.

 

[Phokus]

On what charges? Pretty much everyone was involved in the real estate bubble. If losing money and needing a bailout is your issue then the auto makers might never leave jail.

Intentionally misleading investors about the quality of mortgages:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/wall-street-appears-to-ha_n_815206.html

The originators created fraudulent loans as well.

Also, i don't recall anyone going to jail over the LIBOR scandal

Also, there have been way too many cases where banks have paid millions of dollars in fines but when you compared it to the actual money they made, it was hardly even a slap on the wrist.

Remember when the SEC tried to settle with citigroup, but the settlement was so pathetic that even the judge in the case questioned it?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604807.html


Iceland sent 26 bankers to jail, why can't we send just one.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

On what charges? Pretty much everyone was involved in the real estate bubble. If losing money and needing a bailout is your issue then the auto makers might never leave jail.

Is that a joke, there business model was fraud!

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Isn't this guy the scumbag who took a bailout of taxpayers dollars to save his business and then sued the government for the terms of that bailout not being fair?

I'm pretty sure he sued for something stupid
**I'm speculating here. Weren't they also involved in the global interest rate fixing scam from 2014 too?

 

[nickqt]

even if bernie got elected, none of the really edgy financial reform he wants (transaction taxes, etc) would pass

if he got enough support he might be able to eke out an increase in cap gains/qualified dividend tax brackets, but i doubt he could get it changed to ordinary income.

Well, let's be clear.

Sanders has never implied that if he is elected President with absolutely no coattails that he'll just will everything awesome into existence.

He has repeatedly said that it requires a political revolution. His goal, and his supporters goals are to get Sanders elected with massive coattails that will give him enough votes in the House/Senate to pass the legislation he wants passed.

Considering the outright HRC hate from many conservatives, centrists and liberals, never mind the apathy that many other liberals have about HRC, Sanders may have the best chance to actually bring many new voters into the fray, allowing the Democratic party to retake the House and Senate.

That is what would allow Sanders to get the legislation he wants. Not just getting elected, but having coattails that can only come with people who usually sit out or vote against themselves out of tribal identity to vote for him and the people who will help him.

I mean, no shit HRC or Sanders or Obama or whichever Republican you like won't be able to pass sweeping legislation if the House and Senate stay roughly the same.

 

[Moonbeam]

You people don't get it. Nothing is going to change until the people revolt. It doesn't matter a shit if they don't but if they do it will mean the opposition to change will be swept away. We are going to have that revolution or we are not going to have a democracy. The grip of the wealthy on our government must be destroyed and that can only happen by voter revolution. Wake the fuck up.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

You people don't get it. Nothing is going to change until the people revolt. It doesn't matter a shit if they don't but if they do it will mean the opposition to change will be swept away. We are going to have that revolution or we are not going to have a democracy. The grip of the wealthy on our government must be destroyed and that can only happen by voter revolution. Wake the fuck up.

If Bernie loses, that possibility is gone. Then it would take a real revolution, which is extremely unlikely.

 

[boomerang]

Nothing is going to change until the people revolt.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and
skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Mendel Rivers to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
on reports from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the right occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so god damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally screwed
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash or Englebert Humperdink.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back
after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.​

 

[Sonikku]

If Bernie is elected he will try to make legislation that will curtail the efforts of big banks and big business attempting to rework government for their own sake, only to fail.

If Hillary or one of the GoP is elected they will try to make legislation that further helps these entities at the expense of everyone else, and succeed.

I know where my vote is going.

 

[brianmanahan]

Well, let's be clear.

Sanders has never implied that if he is elected President with absolutely no coattails that he'll just will everything awesome into existence.

oh i'm not saying what he wants to do is awesome. it'd cost me a buttload of money down the road if he does away with the special cap gains tax rates.

 

[nickqt]

oh i'm not saying what he wants to do is awesome. it'd cost me a buttload of money down the road if he does away with the special cap gains tax rates.

I never said that individuals who benefit from special tax rates would find it awesome. I mean, someone who wants to be the founding member of an aristocratic family is going to find someone who wants to end the Estate Tax more preferable than someone who wants to keep it in place, and much more preferable to someone who wants to increase it. Your personal view of Sanders increasing taxes on the ultrawealthy is going to be different from that of someone who really is ultrawealthy, and different from someone who earns a decent income that is taxed higher than the special people who get special tax rates because power=money=special privileges. Living in a representative democracy brings about those conundrums.

I simply replied that the policies that Sanders and his supporters find preferable require more than Sanders winning 270 Electoral College votes with the House and Senate remaining roughly the same. And Sanders has said it repeatedly that this election isn't about electing him, but about a political revolution, the kind envisioned by founders and framers of the late 18th century. Not just a change from business-lite to business-fellating, but from profit-over-people, to the people.

Don't worry, though. Both sides of the entrenched elite, and the media who act as their official stenographers (BothSidesDoIt&#8482 are with you on the apprehension with regard to ending special tax rates for special people with special types of income as defined and made law by the special people who earn that special income.

So I'm still relatively skeptical about Sanders even getting the nomination. I can still see a HRC v. Rubio, Deep State sanctioned personality contest.

Don't fret! Your special tax rates for your special income are likely safe.

 

[Jhhnn]

The most significant thing he could do is put caps on total allowed political donations received and allowed expenditures on campaigns. Taking the money out of your politics would be a big step.

That can't be done w/o Congress & the SCOTUS. That's the Budweiser wagon drawn by a team of Unicorns.

Isn't this guy the scumbag who took a bailout of taxpayers dollars to save his business and then sued the government for the terms of that bailout not being fair?

No. That's Greenberg of AIG.

 

[TheSlamma]

Isn't this guy the scumbag who took a bailout of taxpayers dollars to save his business and then sued the government for the terms of that bailout not being fair?

No, this is the guy that lied under oath about Goldman Sucks making a profit still on those destined to fail mortgage-backed securities.

He's a slime, but given BoberFett's image of him keeping similar low life leech off the people company I'm sure that is obvious. Want more proof? wait till the apologists defend this POS then you will have 100% solid slimebag certification.

 

[TheSlamma]

If Bernie is elected he will try to make legislation that will curtail the efforts of big banks and big business attempting to rework government for their own sake, only to fail.

If Hillary or one of the GoP is elected they will try to make legislation that further helps these entities at the expense of everyone else, and succeed.

I know where my vote is going.

Awww c'mon, we've already been going at it this way for the last 40+ years, shouldn't we just "stay the course"?

why would we ever want to elect a "kook" that would come in and at least TRY to improve things for the people? I mean, progress in the wrong direction is still progress isn't it?

 

[senseamp]

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs itself is starting to question capitalism is working as it should:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...damentally-question-how-capitalism-is-working

But what if margins stay elevated? That too is possible, and its implications could be unsettling.

Goldman wrote: "We are always wary of guiding for mean reversion. But, if we are wrong and high margins manage to endure for the next few years (particularly when global demand growth is below trend), there are broader questions to be asked about the efficacy of capitalism."

In other words, profit margins should naturally mean-revert and oscillate. The existence of fat margins should encourage new competitors and pricing cycles that cause those margins to erode; conversely, at the bottom of the cycle, low margins should lead to weaker players exiting the business and giving stronger companies more breathing space. If that cycle doesn't continue, something strange is taking place.
Needless to say, it's not every day you see a major investment bank say it might have to start asking broader questions about capitalism itself.

 

[Hugo Drax]

I am amazed at how beaten down and subdued Americans have become, at least Sanders winning the election is a start.

 

[SP33Demon]

My main issue with sanders is raising taxes. Not big on candidates who want to make us pay more than we're already paying which gives government more power than it already has. With Wall Street execs turnstiling every other election, is this really a prudent idea? Even if Bern wins, he raises taxes and tries to change stuff but then the economy gets worse because Repubs block everything in Congress. Then next election, a Repub is elected and appoints wall streeters now with a bigger federal purse at their command.