[Infowarrior] - OT OpEd: Goldman Sachs Is Robbing Us Blind

[Richard Forno]

(Note: Good op-ed by Ratigan, who used to anchor CNBC 'Fast Money'  
before quitting and moving over to MSNBC as a daytime anchor/pundit.   
I think he also switched to decaf as well. --rf)

Goldman Sachs Is Robbing Us Blind
Dylan Ratigan|
Oct. 15, 2009, 5:22 PM

In a world where real competition, modern technology and lack of  
special government standing means most American businesses have no  
choice but to adapt and innovate -- Wall Streets wimps only apparent  
skill is rigging the game.

In fact, on Wall Street there have always been only two basic ways to  
make money. The first and most difficult: Be a great investor -- to  
the best investors go the profits, rewarding those who are best at  
picking winning businesses for America and punishing those who fail  
through the loss of their money. The second, and seemingly preferred  
method, exploit those who know less than you -- and take their money,  
even if you have to change the laws to do so.

Now, this second business was much easier to pull off prior to the  
internet and 24-hour exchanges etc. as technology is the enemy of any  
business that makes its living overcharging customers who don't know  
better or are given no other choice.

So bankers, facing an onslaught of web-driven transparency and reduced  
profitability during the last decade along with an increasingly  
educated customer-base became anxious to change the laws in 2000 and  
are even more anxious to protect those changes now.

While things like stock and bond trading became a very low margin  
business because of modern information -- the legalization in 2000 of  
a secretive market for crooked insurance with no transparency or  
accountability has been an absolute boon.

They called it credit derivatives -- where banks and insurers offer to  
effectively "insure" financial assets. For instance, they were used to  
insure much of the real estate and pension liabilities in America the  
past 10 years.

To make money, the banks exploit two loopholes. The first --  
overcharge customers by depriving them of the type of competitive  
pricing only possible on an exchange like the New York Stock Exchange  
or Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

And the second, exploit the lack of transparency to hide the fact that  
you are keeping little or no money to pay claims while selling  
insurance and collecting fees on every house and pension payment in  
America.

The key to success here is that when there is a default or claim  
against that so-called credit insurance -- the banks keep all the past  
payment -- and the taxpayer under threat of collapse pays off the  
claims while getting nothing in return.

This quite simply, is a brilliant way to steal our money.

Now this method of "business" is only possible if the government  
continues to allow these crooked insurance contracts to be written in  
secret, allows them to hold little or no money in reserve for payment  
and allows them to sell enough coverage on enough vital national  
assets that if there is a default -- the taxpayer has no choice but to  
pay.

Needless to say, J.P. Morgan & Co. has never had more revenue and the  
Goldman Sachs bonus pool has never been bigger.

Considering the $23.7 trillion of taxpayer money being used to support  
these Corporate Communists one would hope they could at least make a  
few billion in profits with it. In context, making a few billion  
risking a few trillion is a rather pathetic return after all.

As we talked about last week - allowing these outdated banks to take  
control of our government and change the rules so they are protected  
from the natural competition and reward systems that have created so  
many innovations in our country, you not only steal from the citizens  
on behalf of the least worthy but you also doom them by trapping the  
capital that would have been used to generate new innovation and, most  
tangibly in our current situation, jobs.

We don't want a government commandeered by those in our banking system  
who have failed and been passed over by technological advancements,  
innovation and flat out smarts.

The government's job is to restore the rules of investment, not  
indulge those who want to unfairly sustain their wealth and power at  
our nation's expense.

What we want, is a Wall Street that would attract men and women who  
would seek to be the next Warren Buffett, or great venture capitalist.  
Men and women competing to analyze the countless ideas of our best and  
brightest - investing in those who will best be able to bring their  
innovations to America and the world.

To tell your congressman, go to dylan.msnbc.com and heed the call.


... there's a previous comment as well located @
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/turn-goldman-anger-into-g_b_321730.html