4 ms·

Ban email archives thrown open in devastating financial crash report

44 points by DMPenfold2008 16y ago

hammock 16y ago
Why can't these media outlets name names? Who were the people writing these awful emails and making these decisions? Seems no one is willing to call them out in the article.
- eli 16y ago
  Bloomberg puts names to their quotes http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-traders-tried-to-manipulate-market-in-2007-report-says.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-traders-tri... Not really sure why it matters, though.
  - hammock 16y ago
    Believe me I am the first person to tell anyone that dwelling on the past doesn't solve future problems, but are you suggesting that accountability doesn't matter? Thanks for the link by the way.
    - eli 16y ago
      No, not at all. Actually I suspect crimes have been committed and I'd like to see an independent prosecutor with subpoena power. But I don't see how naming the names of middle managers at goldman does anything to help you, the news consumer. And I believe all the quotes are sourced in the actual report, which others have linked to.
      - hammock 16y ago
        Well for starters when this guy tries to sell me securities in the future, I can turn him down. I'm sure the names are in the report, just found it curious that they would be anonymized when reported in the news.
notaddicted 16y ago
The report itself: http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStreetCrisis_041311.pdf http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStr...
- kluikens 16y ago
  Was just about to post this myself. I was quite frustrated that not only did writer not provide a link to the source, but didn't even mention the report by name.
jwinter 16y ago
Is the email corpus available? One valuable thing that came out of Enron was real-world email data.
mayukh 16y ago
Call me jaded but nothing is going to come off this. Not one single person from any of the wall street firms has gone behind bars for the massive amount of fraud and deception that caused the financial crisis. Worst case there will be a fine paid by a few firms (which is probably going to be less than some of the bonuses they dole out). The best part about these fines is that firms get to declare "No admission of any wrong doing". Really ?
- jsm386 16y ago
  Perhaps something will: Senator Carl Levin, releasing the findings of a two-year inquiry yesterday, said he wants the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether Goldman Sachs violated the law by misleading clients who bought the complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations without knowing the firm would benefit if they fell in value. The Michigan Democrat also said federal prosecutors should review whether to bring perjury charges against Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former employees who testified in Congress last year. Levin said they denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-sachs-misled-congress-after-duping-clients-over-cdos-levin-says.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-sachs-misle...
  - phlux 16y ago
    If this moves forward, I expect Mr. Levin's tragic death in a small plane crash. Edit, apparently people are not familiar with cases like that of Paul Wellstone, or documentaries like "Conspiracy of Silence"
    - maukdaddy 16y ago
      Maybe people are just tired of the stupid conspiracy theories that seem to run rampant throughout the tech community.
      - 16y ago
chailatte 16y ago
Second highest donor for Obama in 2008 is Goldman Sachs at $994,795. Timothy Geithner appointed of a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist to be his chief of staff. Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler is Obama’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Former Chief of Staff Emanuel received nearly $80,000 in cash from Goldman Sachs during his four terms in Congress Tom Donilon is Obama’s deputy national-security adviser. He earned just shy of $4 million representing high-profile meltdown clients including Goldman Sachs. Nothing will happen to Goldman Sachs while this government/bank incest continue. EDIT: 'Second highest donor'
- mkull 16y ago
  According to this list the top donor was University of Calif at 1.6MM - http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&#38... $994,795 seems like a pitifully small number on the scale of Goldman Sachs & government donations - but I would think this is a drop in the bucket. I don't buy that ~1MM buys the administration. Wouldn't it be more likely this amount was donated simply by Goldman employees acting independently? If the amount was $100MM then yeah, I think you have a case for the conspiracy theory. It is also tough for me to believe that $80,000 buys the chief of staff. Am I off-base?
  - maxxxxx 16y ago
    That's the thing about lobbying. The ROI is very high.
    - lotusleaf1987 16y ago
      Then the University of California is doing something wrong...
  - chailatte 16y ago
    My mistake. Correcting post to say 'second highest donor'.
- maxxxxx 16y ago
fname 16y ago
If anyone is interested in this, I highly recommend reading "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine"[1] by Michael Lewis. It talks about Greg Lippmann (mentioned in the article) and how he and others cashed out before the impending crash in 2008. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0393072231 http://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0...
- skorgu 16y ago
  I also recommend "All The Devils Are Here" [1] which covers basically the same ground as "Inside Job" the documentary but in more detail. [1] http://www.amazon.com/All-Devils-Are-Here-Financial/dp/1591843634 http://www.amazon.com/All-Devils-Are-Here-Financial/dp/15918...

44 points by DMPenfold2008 16y ago

Why can't these media outlets name names? Who were the people writing these awful emails and making these decisions? Seems no one is willing to call them out in the article.

eli 16y ago
Bloomberg puts names to their quotes http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-traders-tried-to-manipulate-market-in-2007-report-says.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-traders-tri... Not really sure why it matters, though.
- hammock 16y ago
  Believe me I am the first person to tell anyone that dwelling on the past doesn't solve future problems, but are you suggesting that accountability doesn't matter? Thanks for the link by the way.
  - eli 16y ago
    No, not at all. Actually I suspect crimes have been committed and I'd like to see an independent prosecutor with subpoena power. But I don't see how naming the names of middle managers at goldman does anything to help you, the news consumer. And I believe all the quotes are sourced in the actual report, which others have linked to.
    - hammock 16y ago
      Well for starters when this guy tries to sell me securities in the future, I can turn him down. I'm sure the names are in the report, just found it curious that they would be anonymized when reported in the news.

notaddicted 16y ago

The report itself: http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStreetCrisis_041311.pdf http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStr...

kluikens 16y ago
Was just about to post this myself. I was quite frustrated that not only did writer not provide a link to the source, but didn't even mention the report by name.

jwinter 16y ago

Is the email corpus available? One valuable thing that came out of Enron was real-world email data.

mayukh 16y ago

Call me jaded but nothing is going to come off this. Not one single person from any of the wall street firms has gone behind bars for the massive amount of fraud and deception that caused the financial crisis. Worst case there will be a fine paid by a few firms (which is probably going to be less than some of the bonuses they dole out). The best part about these fines is that firms get to declare "No admission of any wrong doing". Really ?

jsm386 16y ago
Perhaps something will: Senator Carl Levin, releasing the findings of a two-year inquiry yesterday, said he wants the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether Goldman Sachs violated the law by misleading clients who bought the complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations without knowing the firm would benefit if they fell in value. The Michigan Democrat also said federal prosecutors should review whether to bring perjury charges against Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former employees who testified in Congress last year. Levin said they denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-sachs-misled-congress-after-duping-clients-over-cdos-levin-says.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-14/goldman-sachs-misle...
- phlux 16y ago
  If this moves forward, I expect Mr. Levin's tragic death in a small plane crash. Edit, apparently people are not familiar with cases like that of Paul Wellstone, or documentaries like "Conspiracy of Silence"
  - maukdaddy 16y ago
    Maybe people are just tired of the stupid conspiracy theories that seem to run rampant throughout the tech community.
    - 16y ago

chailatte 16y ago

Second highest donor for Obama in 2008 is Goldman Sachs at $994,795. Timothy Geithner appointed of a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist to be his chief of staff. Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler is Obama’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Former Chief of Staff Emanuel received nearly $80,000 in cash from Goldman Sachs during his four terms in Congress Tom Donilon is Obama’s deputy national-security adviser. He earned just shy of $4 million representing high-profile meltdown clients including Goldman Sachs. Nothing will happen to Goldman Sachs while this government/bank incest continue. EDIT: 'Second highest donor'

mkull 16y ago
According to this list the top donor was University of Calif at 1.6MM - http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&#38... $994,795 seems like a pitifully small number on the scale of Goldman Sachs & government donations - but I would think this is a drop in the bucket. I don't buy that ~1MM buys the administration. Wouldn't it be more likely this amount was donated simply by Goldman employees acting independently? If the amount was $100MM then yeah, I think you have a case for the conspiracy theory. It is also tough for me to believe that $80,000 buys the chief of staff. Am I off-base?
- maxxxxx 16y ago
  That's the thing about lobbying. The ROI is very high.
  - lotusleaf1987 16y ago
    Then the University of California is doing something wrong...
- chailatte 16y ago
  My mistake. Correcting post to say 'second highest donor'.
maxxxxx 16y ago

fname 16y ago

If anyone is interested in this, I highly recommend reading "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine"[1] by Michael Lewis. It talks about Greg Lippmann (mentioned in the article) and how he and others cashed out before the impending crash in 2008. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0393072231 http://www.amazon.com/Big-Short-Inside-Doomsday-Machine/dp/0...

skorgu 16y ago
I also recommend "All The Devils Are Here" [1] which covers basically the same ground as "Inside Job" the documentary but in more detail. [1] http://www.amazon.com/All-Devils-Are-Here-Financial/dp/1591843634 http://www.amazon.com/All-Devils-Are-Here-Financial/dp/15918...