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99th_Monkey

(19,326 posts)
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 04:17 PM Feb 2016

Matt Taibbi: Vampire Squid goes to bat for Hillary Clinton

The Vampire Squid Tells Us How to Vote
Lloyd Blankfein charges for investment advice — but his political wisdom is free
By Matt Taibbi * Rolling Stone * February 5, 2016

Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Executive Cephalopod of Goldman Sachs, issued a warning about the Bernie Sanders campaign this week.

"This has the potential to be a dangerous moment," he said on CNBC's Squawk Box.

The Lloyd was peeved that Sanders, whom he's never met, singled him out in a debate last week. "Another kid from Brooklyn, how about that," he lamented.

He ranted about how frightening it is that a candidate like Sanders, who seems to have no interest in "compromising" with Wall Street, could become so popular.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-tells-us-how-to-vote-20160205#ixzz3zVzVgR00
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Matt Taibbi: Vampire Squid goes to bat for Hillary Clinton (Original Post) 99th_Monkey Feb 2016 OP
He sounds like the rest of the puppet media. ViseGrip Feb 2016 #1
Either refute the facts catnhatnh Feb 2016 #15
Matt Taibbi sounds like the rest of the puppet media???? navarth Feb 2016 #18
Matt Taibbi a Puppet? LOL! (eom) ThreeWayFanny Feb 2016 #21
I think he was referring to Lloyd Blankfein. Matt Taaibbi is as good as they get. Snotcicles Feb 2016 #27
As usual, Matt Taibbi gets it. "People aren't pissed just to be pissed... polichick Feb 2016 #2
Bernie Sanders and his FDR moment (one of them) bvar22 Feb 2016 #7
We need more Eleanor and less Franklin in our saidsimplesimon Feb 2016 #43
Everyone talks about how the money was "lost".... Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #11
" Clintons have done by turning their political careers into a vast moneymaking enterprise," dixiegrrrrl Feb 2016 #40
The bit about Geithner is priceless bread_and_roses Feb 2016 #3
Sadly agree navarth Feb 2016 #19
The only danger is the threat to the ease of making money. Gregorian Feb 2016 #4
buy a couple more fire extinguishers, fool. mopinko Feb 2016 #5
America's latest love affair with Wall Street is coming to an end. reformist2 Feb 2016 #6
For some anyway Major Nikon Feb 2016 #8
wow,that look on her face,like a joyful child seeing Santa. nt wendylaroux Feb 2016 #42
Deaf to the sound of rattling pitchforks... Gumboot Feb 2016 #9
We're all just jealous of his success. Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #13
Yeah...we're 'punishing' success. navarth Feb 2016 #20
"Dangerous"? "Peeved"? Just wait until they see the pitchforks and torches! Fritz Walter Feb 2016 #26
Thanks for that TED talk. Going to listen at work tomorrow. cui bono Feb 2016 #38
I watched this TED Talk and, then, looked for a YouTube link and posted in on my Facebook page. Petrushka Feb 2016 #50
How about those Bronco's? I'm not angry. saidsimplesimon Feb 2016 #44
Blankfein knows full well just what horrific damage his "shenanigans" caused... gregcrawford Feb 2016 #10
If anyone has a link to this I'd love to see it. passiveporcupine Feb 2016 #17
Probably This one Marty McGraw Feb 2016 #31
Thanks Marty passiveporcupine Feb 2016 #33
Can't help it, the imagery is so rich.. appalachiablue Feb 2016 #37
These people STILL claim it was minorities moving into white suburbia that caused the crash. Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #12
This is essentially my parenets arguement.... ion_theory Feb 2016 #48
Everyone seems to forget MOST of the foreclosures were from those subprime loans ... Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #49
Pisses me off as well... ion_theory Feb 2016 #56
The subprimes had a balloon payment down the road. The banks LIED and claimed they would refinance.. Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #57
I completely agree... ion_theory Feb 2016 #58
That ignores the fact that the banks LIED. Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #59
I have a different theory. bvar22 Feb 2016 #53
There was an article that claimed Las Vegas was the fastest growing city in America... Spitfire of ATJ Feb 2016 #54
Sanders has no interest in compromising with Wall Street... shawn703 Feb 2016 #14
Kicked and recommended! Hey, Lloyd, Wall Street has compromised us. Enthusiast Feb 2016 #16
Lloyd let me tell you something.... mudstump Feb 2016 #22
Excellent article! MelissaB Feb 2016 #23
" I Welcome Their Hatred!"... FDR, 1936/ Bernie Sanders, 2016 AzDar Feb 2016 #24
Taibbi nails it again. Vinca Feb 2016 #25
Lloyd Blankfein states that he doesn't take criticism personally, Unknown Beatle Feb 2016 #28
Blankfein is as scummy as human beings can get. hifiguy Feb 2016 #29
+1 ... appalachiablue Feb 2016 #36
"now Goldman owns their very own presidential candidate", bvar22 Feb 2016 #55
Great Taibbi as usual. Maybe he'll be Sanders Press Secy stuffmatters Feb 2016 #30
Here's what I take from the article: Bill Clinton's a pretty vile man. TwilightGardener Feb 2016 #32
He supports Hillary...nuff said. SHRED Feb 2016 #34
We're coming for you, Lloyd. Language warning. JEB Feb 2016 #35
Thanks for the reminder of days gone by. saidsimplesimon Feb 2016 #46
Matt really has taken on the mantle of Hunter S. Thompson Kentonio Feb 2016 #39
Here's the original Politico article from 2013 TubbersUK Feb 2016 #41
Thanks. Now we know who Hillary really told to "Cut it out!": it was us "banker-bashers" 99th_Monkey Feb 2016 #45
Compromise equals NO jail time. Jefferson23 Feb 2016 #47
Oh, the trials and tribulations of the downtrodden wealthy. It is to weep. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2016 #51
An endorsement money can't buy FreakinDJ Feb 2016 #52
 

Snotcicles

(9,089 posts)
27. I think he was referring to Lloyd Blankfein. Matt Taaibbi is as good as they get.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 06:45 PM
Feb 2016

Thanks for posting 99th_Monkey.

polichick

(37,152 posts)
2. As usual, Matt Taibbi gets it. "People aren't pissed just to be pissed...
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 04:37 PM
Feb 2016

They're mad because a tiny group of crooks on Wall Street built themselves beach houses in the Hamptons through a crude fraud scheme that decimated their retirement funds, caused property values in their neighborhoods to collapse and caused over four million people to be put in foreclosure.

And they're particularly mad that they got asked to pay for this criminal irresponsibility with bailouts funded with their tax dollars.

What the Clintons have done by turning their political careers into a vast moneymaking enterprise, it's not a value-neutral activity. The money isn't just about buying influence. The money also physically moves people, from one side of an imaginary line to another.

You will never catch Bernie Sanders standing in a room as a paid guest of a bank under investigation for ripping billions off pensioners and investors, addressing the audience in the first-person plural. He doesn't spend enough time with that kind of crowd to be so colloquial."

Big K&R!!

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
40. " Clintons have done by turning their political careers into a vast moneymaking enterprise,"
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 05:18 AM
Feb 2016

As usual, Taibbi is pitch perfect.

bread_and_roses

(6,335 posts)
3. The bit about Geithner is priceless
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:00 PM
Feb 2016
In the book, Timmy goes on at length about how sad it made him that the public was so upset about the bailouts and other policies he engineered to make the Blankfeins of the world whole again ... he went to Clinton to "discuss the politics of populism with the master practitioner."

... This squares with accounts I heard after 2008, about the Treasury Department in the Geithner years. In one story I remember, it took a presentation from a major retail company about expected lower holiday spending levels to enlighten Geithner's staff as to the level of economic pain in the population. Until they saw the graphs from executives, they had no clue.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-vampire-squid-tells-us-how-to-vote-20160205#ixzz3zWB46LVQ
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

I still reel from the betrayal of the appointments of Geihner, Summers, et al


Gregorian

(23,867 posts)
4. The only danger is the threat to the ease of making money.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:04 PM
Feb 2016

It might take a little more work to make a billion.

mopinko

(69,809 posts)
5. buy a couple more fire extinguishers, fool.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:16 PM
Feb 2016

nothing like sticking your head up from the crowd there. get used to that target that you just painted on your own back.

Gumboot

(531 posts)
9. Deaf to the sound of rattling pitchforks...
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:29 PM
Feb 2016

Wall Street has not once 'compromised' with America during the last 35 years... has it, Lloyd?



Fritz Walter

(4,281 posts)
26. "Dangerous"? "Peeved"? Just wait until they see the pitchforks and torches!
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 06:45 PM
Feb 2016

Do they live in such opaque bubbles that they can't or won't see what's coming?!?

OK, one billionaire got the memo. He is their prophet in the desert. They dismiss him -- wrong kind of profit, don't ya' see? -- but at their own peril.

Here is Nick Hanauer's TED Talk, which falls on the deaf ears of the 1-2% but is going viral among the 98%:
https://embed-ssl.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming.html"

Petrushka

(3,709 posts)
50. I watched this TED Talk and, then, looked for a YouTube link and posted in on my Facebook page.
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 03:53 PM
Feb 2016

Thank you!

saidsimplesimon

(7,888 posts)
44. How about those Bronco's? I'm not angry.
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 12:52 PM
Feb 2016

First rule in my corporate training, anger does not win friends or influence enemies.

The antidote to anger is action. So, let's score a big win for Senator Sander's in NH. The "establishment" has ignored our voices, let them face our votes.

Wall Street is not working for US. Goldman Sachs is raping Brazil by financing an unsustainable debt from derivatives investment. The Olympics in a mosquito and diseased infected land of mistreatment of the poor?

gregcrawford

(2,382 posts)
10. Blankfein knows full well just what horrific damage his "shenanigans" caused...
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:38 PM
Feb 2016

... he just doesn't give a fuck. He is the very definition of a psychopath: manipulative in the extreme, deceitful for the fun of it, and utterly devoid of conscience or even the capacity for remorse.

One of his weasel traders was on British TV a few weeks ago (it's somewhere in the DU archives), and proceeded to astound the presenters with his ruthless delight in wreaking economic havoc. He also said something to the effect that governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs does.

I would love to see Squidman, and oily little assholes like that trader, frogmarched to prison for the rest of their evil lives.

passiveporcupine

(8,175 posts)
17. If anyone has a link to this I'd love to see it.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:56 PM
Feb 2016

I don't have time for extensive searches right now. Thanks!

ion_theory

(235 posts)
48. This is essentially my parenets arguement....
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 01:45 PM
Feb 2016

Not so much the racial aspect, but that people bought up homes that they couldn't afford all over the country. It's their fault for not being able to pay back the loan. We had to bail out the banks because people stopped paying them. They've bought this hook, line, and sinker and it such a shame.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
49. Everyone seems to forget MOST of the foreclosures were from those subprime loans ...
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 02:05 PM
Feb 2016

They had balloon payments too. They promised they could refinance when those came due but that was a lie.

Then they took all of those mortgages and bundled them so sloppily that they couldn't track the deeds and wrote up securities after bribing the ratings agencies to give them a AAA rating. Then to top it off they bet they would fail.

Here is the part that really pisses me off. They got a bailout so they got paid but they are still hounding the people who took out those loans as if they didn't. Then there was a second and third quiet bailout that totaled the value of ALL of the real estate in the country.

But poor people, minorities and immigrants got the blame.

White males in suits never get the blame. The Beltway believes the world would collapse without them.

ion_theory

(235 posts)
56. Pisses me off as well...
Thu Feb 11, 2016, 10:53 PM
Feb 2016

However, at the end of the day my rents look at that argument and still say, "well those people who took that loan for that house should have known the risk involved with taking that subprime loan." I really have no way of arguing that though cause in a way it is true. The banks completely fucked the economy, but a lot of people were tricked essentially. Unless my understanding is wrong which it may be. I'm a science degree not a business one haha..

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
57. The subprimes had a balloon payment down the road. The banks LIED and claimed they would refinance..
Thu Feb 11, 2016, 11:46 PM
Feb 2016

Then when the balloon payment came due the people's monthly payments doubled and then tripled and then quadrupled.

Whatever it took to steal their home.

He's another kicker. The banks would offer these subprimes to people drowning in credit card debt. They told these people their home was a goldmine in untapped equity. Why not use it to not only pay off all of those credit cards but take out an even bigger loan and go on a shopping spree? People bought big ticket items like major appliances, cars, big screen TVs, even went on vacation.

ion_theory

(235 posts)
58. I completely agree...
Fri Feb 12, 2016, 03:59 PM
Feb 2016

The banks found a way to fuck over as many people as they could, but plenty of people essentially say it is there fault for believing the banks and not taking care of their finances.

I completely think they were criminally taken advantage of, but the reply to that is people shouldn't have been that stupid to take on loans they couldn't pay back, whether they could refinance or not.

My main issue is I don't know how to logically argue that at the end of the day those ppl that lost there home were taken advantage of. Maybe it's a different way of looking at the world on my parents part, but they aren't dumb and still think that though the banks may have done wrong, ppl still fucked themselves over.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
53. I have a different theory.
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 09:35 PM
Feb 2016

I believe Katrina and New Orleans was the first domino that started the crash.
I was in New Orleans immediately after the storm, and happened to meet a Real Estate agent walking down the middle of the street (there were no cars yet) with her binder. (It all seems like a bizarre dream now, just me and this woman with a binder standing in a post apocalypse wasteland.
No noise or motors running, none of the suburban A/C units running, no planes flying overhead, no lights, no other people, just miles of wasted homes )
I stopped her, and started asking questions about property value in this destroyed neighborhood.

I pointed to a house that had been knocked off its foundation, and asked her how much it was worth.
She opened her binder, found the address and a Pre-Katrina photo of this destroyed home, and told me it was worth $212K. I laughed because I though she was joking, but she was deadly serious.
I again pointed to the destroyed home sitting sideways, and said, " THAT is worth $212K???!!!"
I asked, "Who says so?"
She again pointed to the photo in her binder and replied, "The Bank says so. That is its value on the books."

It was then I had a moment of clarity. The banks were carrying many square MILES of destroyed homes on their books at inflated "Boom" refinanced prices....and I knew something bad was coming....worse than Katrina.

I called my wife in Minneapolis, and told her to start selling EVERYTHING.
It was time to get out. We sold everything, cashed out my IRA and paid the penalty.
We used the money to buy Bubble Proof ground in rural Arkansas, and moved there in 2006, right before The Crash.


...but I still believe the destruction of many square miles of over mortgaged "bubble" homes in New Orleans in 2005 is what started the house of cards to collapse.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
54. There was an article that claimed Las Vegas was the fastest growing city in America...
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 09:52 PM
Feb 2016

Investors from all over started building these 16th acre housing tracts. Miles and miles of two story homes with a narrow walkway between them. We joke about the bathrooms facing each other so you can watch your neighbor take a dump. Awful cheap fittings selling for $350k apiece. Guess what? The price on some of these places crashed to $40k and STILL couldn't be sold. There are vast neighborhoods that look like a ghost town. The sea of yuppies that was supposed to buy them was a fantasy. This is the kind of place where daddy drives a cab and mommy deals blackjack at Caesars.

shawn703

(2,702 posts)
14. Sanders has no interest in compromising with Wall Street...
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:53 PM
Feb 2016

No, we are done with Wall Street compromises, because the little guy ends up getting the short end of the stick.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
16. Kicked and recommended! Hey, Lloyd, Wall Street has compromised us.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 05:55 PM
Feb 2016

You are the ones not compromising. You have bought the election and legislative process. That isn't democracy!

mudstump

(342 posts)
22. Lloyd let me tell you something....
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 06:22 PM
Feb 2016

that you don't seem to grasp. Bernie's unwillingness to compromise with Wall Street is precisely why we are devoted to him. And, the fact that you are squawking about Bernie tells me that he is perfectly on track to overhaul this democracy.

Unknown Beatle

(2,672 posts)
28. Lloyd Blankfein states that he doesn't take criticism personally,
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 06:49 PM
Feb 2016

but then he notes that Sanders making public statements about Wall St, "has the potential to be a dangerous moment."

So which is it, you fucking hypocrite? Are you worried or not? It seems to me that you're greatly concerned but pretend not to be.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
29. Blankfein is as scummy as human beings can get.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 06:49 PM
Feb 2016

And now Goldman owns their very own presidential candidate. How special.

When Bernie is elected I hope you shit your $5000 suit, you vampiric asshole.

stuffmatters

(2,574 posts)
30. Great Taibbi as usual. Maybe he'll be Sanders Press Secy
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 07:14 PM
Feb 2016

That would be soooo cool!

Love the the Geithner story.

If people who heard Hilary's GS speeches are already talking to Taibbi, it's pretty certain sooner or later those videos/transcripts will leak out. I fear that these speeches have the potential to be a devastating "47%" moment for Hillary Clinton and Democrats. Better to get them out now than after our party is locked into a Clinton nomination.

Plenty of Repubs (including Trump pals) were in those gilded GS rooms and heard her speeches. They're not going away.






TwilightGardener

(46,416 posts)
32. Here's what I take from the article: Bill Clinton's a pretty vile man.
Sun Feb 7, 2016, 07:25 PM
Feb 2016

(read his cynical advice to Timmeh Geithner)

saidsimplesimon

(7,888 posts)
46. Thanks for the reminder of days gone by.
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 01:16 PM
Feb 2016

I remember the day when students were seen smoking MJ on the campus of the University of Michigan. AA2 local and campus police did not arrest those who preferred pot to alcohol. As I recall, possession of a joint was a local misdemeanor.

At the risk of losing my political "cred", a snip from a past remembered. Recreational use of Mary Jane is on the ballot in Arizona. What you do "behind closed doors" is not the government's business, imo.

As for the banksters, they're drunk on money and power. They will soon invest in the growing market.


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TubbersUK

(1,439 posts)
41. Here's the original Politico article from 2013
Mon Feb 8, 2016, 10:47 AM
Feb 2016
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/wall-street-white-house-republicans-lament-of-the-plutocrats-101047

But Clinton offered a message that the collected plutocrats found reassuring, according to accounts offered by several attendees, declaring that the banker-bashing so popular within both political parties was unproductive and indeed foolish. Striking a soothing note on the global financial crisis, she told the audience, in effect: We all got into this mess together, and we’re all going to have to work together to get out of it. What the bankers heard her to say was just what they would hope for from a prospective presidential candidate: Beating up the finance industry isn’t going to improve the economy—it needs to stop.


Certainly, Clinton offered the money men—and, yes, they are mostly men—at Goldman’s HQ a bit of a morale boost. “It was like, ‘Here’s someone who doesn’t want to vilify us but wants to get business back in the game,’” said an attendee. “Like, maybe here’s someone who can lead us out of the wilderness.”

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