Here is the link to the latest Yahoo story about Goldman Sachs:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_bi_ge/us_goldman_sachs_investigation
On NPR News today they were talking about this too. It seems like this firm might have been betting against their own investments. Come again? NPR played some testimony that showed me that some people are very angry about this, and are trying to say that Goldman Sachs didn't have the interests of their own clients at heart.
Is this true? I don't know. They are trying to find out more. Emails used as evidence are said to be "cherry-picked" just to make the firm look bad... but the other side says they show a plan to cover themselves by not telling buyers of home-loan securities that these were a horrible investment.
Plan... cover-up... greed...? or just business as usual, and nothing against the law?
Maybe this story is just one of the first ones we will see in the news about big firms paying themselves and not worrying about their investors. I think it's good to bring this into the open so that other companies will wise up and do the right thing in the future.
If people high up in the Goldman Sachs organization knew about bad investments, and kept doing it anyway, and protected themselves by making sure they made a profit while their clients went broke, well... obviously that would be wrong. But is there a law against it? It doesn't look like it yet.
There IS a big difference between illegal and unethical, as the story says. And nobody may be fined or go to jail because of it. But all the attention this story is getting can only be good.
It could be the beginning of some real change for the better for the people who lost a lot of money in the downturn, and for some who didn't have to.
-Betsyanne
More NPR Coverage of this story
From USA Today: Congress vs. Goldman Sachs (video link too)
Time magazine: Goldman Sachs execs still don't get it
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