A professor at the University of San Diego, Frank Partnoy, defends Goldman Sachs in a column for the Financial Times: "I am troubled by government officials' relentless focus on Goldman. They are firing at the wrong bank, with the wrong bullets. Goldman is not to blame for this financial crisis.Of the banks that dominated the market a few years ago, why would the government target the only one to survive the crisis financially intact?...if the other big investment banks had made similar "net short" trades in 2007, there would not have been a financial crisis. Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch collapsed because they took massive positions in the opposite direction. Given the cost of government bail-outs, why chastise the only prudent investment bank?...Goldman is the healthiest, most profitable remaining target. Some banks are dead; others might not survive government attack. Politicians who need to throw a bank under the bus might pick the one most likely to live through the rumble. The easiest and safest scapegoat is the one with the highest salaries and profits."
'Misguided Political Theater'
https://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/05/misguided-political-theater
by Editor | Related Topics: Banking, Capital Markets Regulation, Goldman Sachs, Press receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list