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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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 OPINION 
19

Goldman Engineered 'Every Market Manipulation' Post-Depression

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(Newser) – The recession has been good to Goldman Sachs: The world’s most powerful investment bank snatched $10 billion in TARP funds, reclaimed $13 billion from AIG, watched archrival Lehman Brothers disintegrate, and found alumni spearheading Washington’s economic rescue effort. But this isn’t new, Matt Taibbi writes in a scathing Rolling Stone explainer, since Goldman “has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression.”

And Goldman is at it again, now with the cap-and-trade “environmental plan,” Taibbi says: “The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino that's been kind to Goldman, except it has one delicious new wrinkle: The rise in prices will be government-mandated. Goldman won't even have to rig the game. It will be rigged in advance.”

Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein testifies before the House Financial Services Committee.
Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein testifies before the House Financial Services Committee.   (Getty Images)
In this Sept. 25, 2008 file photo, Lloyd C. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, speaks at a luncheon at United Nations headquarters.
In this Sept. 25, 2008 file photo, Lloyd C. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, speaks at a luncheon at United Nations headquarters.   (AP Photo/David Karp, file)
In this Feb. 11, 2009 file photo, Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman Lloyd C. Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon testify on Capitol Hill before the House Financial Services Committee.
In this Feb. 11, 2009 file photo, Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman Lloyd C. Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon testify on Capitol Hill before the House Financial Services Committee.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, file)
In this Sept. 16, 2008 file photo, a man walks out of Goldman Sachs headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 in New York.
In this Sept. 16, 2008 file photo, a man walks out of Goldman Sachs headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
Lloyd Blankfein, right, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Eric Dinallo, center, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, talk with an unidentified man as they enter the New York Stock Exchange for a panel discussion Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 in New York.
Lloyd Blankfein, right, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Eric Dinallo, center, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, talk with an unidentified man as they enter the New York Stock Exchange...   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. - Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain. - Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

The collective message of all of this — the AIG bailout, the swift approval for its bank-holding conversion, the TARP funds — is that when it comes to Goldman Sachs, there isn't a free market at all. - Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

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19 comments
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ksu92
Jul 5, 09 1:18 PM CDT
Gee, I hope nothing bad happens to these wonderful men. Reply
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+4
NotEvsie
Jul 5, 09 1:21 PM CDT
I'm no fan of Goldman Sachs, but I'll get my economic commentary from something a little more reliable than Rolling Stone magazine. Why can't they just stick to what they're good at? Reply
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-10
IN RESPONSE:
Fondue
Jul 5, 09 2:31 PM CDT
Matt Taibbi is no music or pop culture critic.
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+9
IN RESPONSE:
DJM420
Jul 5, 09 6:50 PM CDT
i just renewed my subscription more for the no-nosense reporting and current events than the music (they are good at both)...dont be a palin not...
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0
IN RESPONSE:
custum
Jul 6, 09 1:25 AM CDT
Yea, I don't care much for economic conspiracy theories written by sports columnists
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