Does this anyway mean that Goldman will have its hands in the oil can once Venezualan Govt. bites the dust ?
Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
21–30 of 119 posts
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#22Goldman bought a lot of Greece debt that it knew wasn't great and made tons:
https://www.thenation.com/article/goldmans-greek-gambit/
Goldman Sachs was also very involved in selling subprime mortages to unwitting investors. Goldman Sach has had to deal with lawsuits that it wasn't acting in its clients' best interests:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/16/business/la-fi-hiltz...
If Goldman Sachs is involved, you are likely getting fleeced in some fashion, you probably just do not realise it yet.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not directly useful for Maduro. They bought the bonds in the secondary market for a seventy percent discount. Maduro made no money off the sale. And at that large of a discount I don't think he'll have an easy time selling new bonds to anyone either.
Makes sense, but I still see the reason oppressed people would make a stink. If only to broadcast that it will be bad optics for any foreigner to support the current regime...or even appear to. Propaganda is likely going on both sides.
The only reason why this is even made public is because Goldman is a big and easy target. There are mutual funds that I wouldn't be surprised a bunch of people here hold that easily dwarf GS in this space.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#24Does this anyway mean that Goldman will have its hands in the oil can once Venezualan Govt. bites the dust ?
Venezuela doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation with foreign business interests; especially oil companies.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Makes sense, but I still see the reason oppressed people would make a stink. If only to broadcast that it will be bad optics for any foreigner to support the current regime...or even appear to. Propaganda is likely going on both sides.
The only reason why this is even made public is because Goldman is a big and easy target. There are mutual funds that I wouldn't be surprised a bunch of people here hold that easily dwarf GS in this space.
Sure, but that seems logical. If you want to make a deterrent, use a big name that will get press coverage, even if they bought on a secondary market.
For example, I'd be loath to buy Sudanese investments, even if I could prove it was a secondary market buy. The association just has bad optics.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
The original letter has more detail as to why Borges believes that. I'm no expert, so I have no idea if it's plausible. On the other hand, if I were a citizen suffering under Maduro's regime, I'd be pissed at any sort of foreign investment that Maduro could spend as he wanted. In short, "provides a financial lifeline to his authoritarian regime" and "desperate desire to gain resources needed to secure weapons and oth…
It's not directly useful for Maduro. They bought the bonds in the secondary market for a seventy percent discount. Maduro made no money off the sale. And at that large of a discount I don't think he'll have an easy time selling new bonds to anyone either.
From the article:
> While Goldman Sachs defended its trade by saying that it bought the bonds on the open market from a broker, bankers and traders say the money ultimately ended up in Venezuela’s treasury because the seller was an institution with ties to the government.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#27Does this anyway mean that Goldman will have its hands in the oil can once Venezualan Govt. bites the dust ?
Basically. Either the govt. uses it's oil money to keep paying Goldman or Goldman can attempt to seize every Venezuelan oil tanker that enters waters where the US has jurisdiction.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The original letter has more detail as to why Borges believes that. I'm no expert, so I have no idea if it's plausible. On the other hand, if I were a citizen suffering under Maduro's regime, I'd be pissed at any sort of foreign investment that Maduro could spend as he wanted. In short, "provides a financial lifeline to his authoritarian regime" and "desperate desire to gain resources needed to secure weapons and oth…
It's not directly useful for Maduro. They bought the bonds in the secondary market for a seventy percent discount. Maduro made no money off the sale. And at that large of a discount I don't think he'll have an easy time selling new bonds to anyone either.
According to the article the bonds where bought from a group with ties to the government.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only reason why this is even made public is because Goldman is a big and easy target. There are mutual funds that I wouldn't be surprised a bunch of people here hold that easily dwarf GS in this space.
Sure, but that seems logical. If you want to make a deterrent, use a big name that will get press coverage, even if they bought on a secondary market. For example, I'd be loath to buy Sudanese investments, even if I could prove it was a secondary market buy. The association just has bad optics.
I agree, but GS appears to be resilient against bad optics so far. Some negative stories are written about them, some people on the internet call them 'criminal banksters', but no matter what happens they continue to make vast amounts of money and ex- (and likely future) employees seem to reliably find their way into top offices of government, central banks and other powerful institutions.
Re: Goldman Buys $2.8B Worth of Venezuelan Bonds, and an Uproar Begins
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Banks control western politicians who will put who ever is in power under pressure to pay of the debt. I used to think people that talk like that are same as the ones that wear tin foil hats. But the last 6-7 years has made me realise that they are not completely bat shit crazy. And the world of power is power is most corrupted and the least in the news.
"And the Weak Suffer What They Must?" by Yanis Varoufakis (former Greek finance minster) has an interesting view on the mess that Greece (and indeed Europe and the rest of the world) is in. I don't think it's without flaws but it is certainly interesting - particularly his view of EU/ECB bureaucrats: "a clueless, inefficient bureaucracy... working tirelessly for politicians with an infinite capacity to recite unenfor…
On a sidenote (but likely interesting to HN readers):
Varoufakis worked as an economist for Valve[1]
[1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a...