It's all Goldman Sachs' fault says Matt Taibbi

[Jan Klimkowski]

In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko sez:

"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much."

And now we see the logical consequence of this bastard philosophy.

From Market Ticker's Karl Denninger, my emphasis in bold:

Posted by Karl Denninger in Editorial at 09:07

Goldman's "Interlocking" Relationships
One has to wonder...

Goldman, of course, will say it still cares about reputation. Tell that to IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG. In 2006, the German bank specifically told Goldman it was no longer comfortable investing in CDOs that didn’t “utilize a collateral manager, meaning an independent third-party,” according to the SEC’s complaint. Goldman told IKB it had such a manager -- ACA. It didn’t mention Paulson. IKB lost almost all of its $150 million investment.

Ah, ACA. The much-vaunted and claimed "selection agent." An independent expert. Really? "Independent" eh?

"ACA had a horrible reputation," he told me, which led me to ask the obvious question so why would Goldman want ACA's stamp as selection manager on the CDO they were marketing? Fabrice Tourre, the 31-year-old named as the architect of Abacus, is quoted as insisting that Goldman wanted ACA's brand name and "credibility" on the CDO.

My source told me to check out who the head of ACA was married to. "I think you'll find it's a senior woman at Goldman Sachs," he said.

Well, yep, it is.

Alan S. Rosenman took over ACA Capital as president and CEO in 2004 - because -- wait for it -- his predecessor Michael Satz had "personal income tax issues" -- (how murky is this story going to get you must be asking?)

Oh.

Well gee, we knew there was more incest between government and Goldman than you'd find in a caveman society, but what we didn't know is that the so-called "independent" managers that were performing collateral selection were fucking - literally - the senior management of the firms that were paying them!

Separate and independent firms eh?

Not from where this guy sits.

That gives a whole new meaning to "interlocking" firms, doesn't it?

http://market-ticker.org/archives/2215-G...ships.html