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Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

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Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#51

Post by gadders »

suprgeek wrote: post #30

So the company that was one of lead bad actors in a global crisis that wiped out lots of little folks gets - No execs (or anybody else) go to Jail Continues to do business as usual Pays a small fraction of its profits in fines (but gets to keep the multi-billions of tax-payer money under various govt. programs) Admits to no wrong doing Basically a speeding-ticket that gets dismissed when you pony up the cash after be…

What about the government people that encouraged "Ninja" loans to people who couldn't afford to repay them?

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#53

Post by simonh »

isnullorempty wrote: post #44
oceanstone wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bernie Sanders wants to break up the banks that took bailout money, creating smaller banks that are no longer "too big to fail." What are people's thoughts on this proposal?

I don't think this is the correct approach, it's not the size of the company that is the problem. In fact large companies (not monopolies) can produce/offer services/products that smaller companies can't due to the scale (i.e. mobile banking). What should happen is the employees or execs responsible should have gone to jail for life for the destruction they caused providing a deterrent effect, and also much stronger…

In China people can be sent to jail for 'causing destruction' but in western countries you have to have been proven, beyond reasonable doubt, to have broken a law.

Most of the activities the banks were carrying out that contributed to the crash were well known long before the crash, and were not illegal and they weren't being called out for it. In fact many politicians and the public were keen for broader availability of cheap loans. So yes, we need better regulation of financial institutions, but there were many causes of the financial crisis and blame lies in many places and many lessons learned, but you can't apply laws retroactively or arbitrarily.

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#54

Post by isnullorempty »

decisiveness wrote: post #50
oceanstone wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bernie Sanders wants to break up the banks that took bailout money, creating smaller banks that are no longer "too big to fail." What are people's thoughts on this proposal?

The type of separation he's talking about would limit the ability of banks to affiliate with each other in a risky manor, as they had leading up to the crisis. In an attempt to accomplish this, Elizabeth Warren has drafted a reasonable, 21st century take [1] on Glass-Steagall, which Senator Sanders supports. [1] http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/21stCenturyGlas...

But an investment bank alone can still be too big to fail, it's about the contagion effect caused by the banks being deeply intertwined with each other.

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#55

Post by manuelflara »

isnullorempty wrote: post #54
decisiveness wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The type of separation he's talking about would limit the ability of banks to affiliate with each other in a risky manor, as they had leading up to the crisis. In an attempt to accomplish this, Elizabeth Warren has drafted a reasonable, 21st century take [1] on Glass-Steagall, which Senator Sanders supports. [1] http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/21stCenturyGlas...

But an investment bank alone can still be too big to fail, it's about the contagion effect caused by the banks being deeply intertwined with each other.

I think the key issue is that, if an investment bank fails and takes all of its investors money with it, well that's kind of like a startup failing. Investors know the risk. But right now, if a bank fails due to its bad investments, it can take the money / deposits / savings of many, many people that did not take any risks with their money.

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#56

Post by manuelflara »

nl wrote: post #39
VeilEm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that they knew weren't priced correctly Things are priced at what they will sell for. It's more that they were hiding information about the risk (which of course would have drastically lowered the value and the price people would be willing to pay). I think the difference is significant, however.

They were hiding the risk, both from the purchases and the ratings agencies. BUT - and this is pretty important - the ratings agencies were negligent in their rating methodology. Intelligent buyers could see the problems. The book The Big Short covers this in some detail.

A really good movie based on the book, with the same name, just came out. Watched it yesterday and I recommend it a lot. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_big_short/

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#57

Post by edelans »

Am I the only one finding it odd that the company who has triggered a global financial crisis is paying a fine to the US ???? The damage spread far outside US borders ! I would rather see this fine paid to a global organisazion, like the IMF (https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/finfac.htm).

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#58

Post by forgetsusername »

suprgeek wrote: post #30

So the company that was one of lead bad actors in a global crisis that wiped out lots of little folks gets - No execs (or anybody else) go to Jail Continues to do business as usual Pays a small fraction of its profits in fines (but gets to keep the multi-billions of tax-payer money under various govt. programs) Admits to no wrong doing Basically a speeding-ticket that gets dismissed when you pony up the cash after be…

>Basically a speeding-ticket that gets dismissed when you pony up the cash after being caught drunk driving with dead body stuck on your fender.

If only they would have put you on the case instead of Federal investigators, I'm sure all of these alleged crimes would have been proven to a legal standard, I suppose?

Business as usual? The banking sector has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs, paid billions in fines, faces increased scrutiny and the executives have been pilloried without crimes being proven.

I wish I could go back in time to 2001 when Hacker News was calling for the heads of VC firms and tech-stock CEOs for perpetuating a fraud on the people and causing a financial crash. But that didn't really happen; instead many people when to work for them.

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#59

Post by [deleted] »

isnullorempty wrote: post #54
decisiveness wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The type of separation he's talking about would limit the ability of banks to affiliate with each other in a risky manor, as they had leading up to the crisis. In an attempt to accomplish this, Elizabeth Warren has drafted a reasonable, 21st century take [1] on Glass-Steagall, which Senator Sanders supports. [1] http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/21stCenturyGlas...

But an investment bank alone can still be too big to fail, it's about the contagion effect caused by the banks being deeply intertwined with each other.

[deleted]

Re: Goldman Sachs Will Pay $5B to Settle Financial-Crisis Claims

#60

Post by forgetsusername »

oceanstone wrote: post #41
tn13 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And interestingly almost all politicians of all hue and color and with capacity to do something seem to be siding with them.

Bernie Sanders wants to break up the banks that took bailout money, creating smaller banks that are no longer "too big to fail." What are people's thoughts on this proposal?

>What are people's thoughts on this proposal?

Have fun competing in the global financial business with massive institutions from other countries.

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