Goldman Sachs // Current

Goldman Sachs Plays at Giving Back to the Little People | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | A

Why aren't they in jail yet? Oh, I forgot, they own the law.

Monkey_Films
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Dina Powell on Goldman Sachs $500m Small Business Initiative

Goldman Sachs earned an eye-popping $3.2 billion last quarter. Now it’s decided to share some of that with the little guys. The bank said Tuesday that it is launching a $500 million initiative called “10,000 Small Businesses,” aimed at unlocking the job creation and economic growth potential of America’s small companies. The project’s advisory council features an array of business luminaries, including Warren Buffett, Goldman Sachs’ largest shareholder. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Harvard professor Michael Porter will join Buffett in co-chairing the group.
(Cowley, S., 2009, November 17, par.1-2)

Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) said it will contribute $200 million for scholarships to community colleges and universities around the country. The money is intended to fund training and educational opportunities for underserved business owners. The bank is also setting aside $300 million to support Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Certified by the Treasury Department, CDFIs include banks, credit unions and investment funds that target low-income and otherwise disadvantaged populations. Goldman is seeking a return on some of its community development support: The bank said its CDFI investment will be a combination of loans and philanthropic donations.
(Cowley, S., 2009, November 17, par.4-6)

The “10,000 Small Businesses” project comes at a time when many banks — including Goldman — have pared back their small business lending. Over the last six months, Goldman has cut the balance of its outstanding loans to small businesses by $191 million, according to a Treasury report released this week. Goldman’s small business loan balance currently stands at $3.8 billion.
(Cowley, S., 2009, November 17, par.8)

Last fall’s financial meltdown had a cataclysmic — and lingering — effect on small business financing. The nation’s biggest banks have collectively shaved $10.5 billion from their small business lending balances over the past six months, and small business owners are struggling to get the credit lines they need to run their companies. Goldman Sachs’ CEO on Tuesday apologized for his bank’s part in contributing to financial meltdown. “We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret,” Blankfein said at a corporate conference in New York. “We apologize.”
(Cowley, S., 2009, November 17, par.9-11)

Source:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1335037571&play=1

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/17/smallbusiness/goldman_sachs_warren_buffet_small_business/

http://theretailsector.wordpress.com/Goldman Sachs earned an eye-popping $3.2 billion last quarter. Now it’s decided to... more

jmsrmy
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5 days ago
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Hundreds Converge on Goldman Sachs DC Headquarters

Today, hundreds of workers, clergy members, community leaders, and other taxpayers... more

WakeUpPeople
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6 days ago
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15 comments

Obama Administration denies Goldman Sachs $3 billion tax break

The Treasury Department told Goldman Sachs last week that it could not use Fannie Mae's tax credits to reduce its own tax liability. An official with the Obama administration explained that the proposal "would result in a loss of aggregate tax revenues that would be greater than the savings."

This is the right decision. Had the Treasury Department allowed Goldman to reduce its tax liability by using Fannie Mae's tax breaks, it would have potentially opened the door to a severe loss of tax revenue, as other profitable companies would likely have sought to follow suit.

As reported earlier, Goldman Sachs had offered to purchase up to $1 billion of low-income housing tax credits that Fannie Mae had itself purchased during the housing bubble but can no longer use. More recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Warren Buffett had joined Goldman Sachs in a bid to purchase $3 billion in credits. The credits, designed to encourage additional investment in low-income housing, are useful only if the company claiming them is profitable. And with Fannie Mae currently a very unprofitable company, it does not have much use for the credits. It has lost $59 billion so far this year, and the U.S. government has already given Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its related government-sponsored entity, almost $100 billion since September 2008.

Goldman Sachs had portrayed its offer to purchase Fannie Mae's tax credits as a "win-win" proposition. It argued that Fannie Mae would benefit because it could take these credits, which are losing value by the day, off of its books, while Goldman would benefit by reducing its tax liability by the amount of the credits.

Unfortunately, Goldman failed to include the interests of the taxpayer in its calculations. For every dollar that Goldman saves, the government -- and, by extension, the U.S. taxpayer -- loses a dollar. This is hardly a win-win situation.

more at link...

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/09/obama-administration-denies-goldman-sachs-3-billion-tax-break/The Treasury Department told Goldman Sachs last week that it could not use Fannie... more

WakeUpPeople
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Goldman Sachs receives 200 doses of Swine Flu Vaccine

Did I miss something? Since when has the CDC catered to the beck and call of... more

sonjasreality
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15 days ago
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Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: "I'm Doing God's Work."

Goldman's reputation is suddenly as toxic as the credit default swaps and other... more

atomiclegion
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15 days ago
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5 comments

Wall Street gets Swine Flu Vaccine while High-Risk Groups are Struggling to get it

This is beyond outrageous. Wwhile pregnant women and children with respiratory... more

Future_America
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17 days ago
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Why Keep Geithner?

Ratigan: There are people who also understand the intricacies of finance and policy, but whose allegiances to the taxpayer are clearer.

A year ago it was revealed to the American people that our banking system was a legalized Ponzi scheme in which bank and insurance CEOs paid themselves billions of dollars in personal compensation to lend and insure assets with money they didn't have to customers who couldn't pay back the loans.

In those dark days between the fall of Lehman Brothers and before the presidential election, we were often carried through that time by the small glimmer of hope in that at least we would soon have a new leader who would hopefully fix this mess and punish those responsible.

Yet in the past 9 months, not only has the administration not fixed anything, they have made things much worse for anyone who isn't a Wall Street banker. Therefore, we are past the point where anyone in power still gets the benefit of the doubt and the process of taking back our country for all citizens must begin now.

This is why I think we must ask if U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is still the right person for the job. It has become clear recently that back in his previous role as New York Federal Reserve Governor, he unnecessarily gave billions of dollars of U.S. tax money to banks and insurance companies with few strings attached. And it is now becoming clear that his lack of meaningful action is helping many of these same banks steal more by legalizing their most economically dangerous, socially destructive and self-enriching practices.

To stop the theft from continuing, it requires that the most basic rules of capitalism be applied to our banks and that our future national wealth be safeguarded by the U.S. Government. The current custodian of America's wealth, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is not doing a good job of either. The time for corrective action is now.

more at link

Wow, actual main-stream news calling out the Goldman Sachs establishment. No wonder Dylan got kicked off of CNBC's Fast Money, and lets not forget Jeff Macke as well.Ratigan: There are people who also understand the intricacies of finance and policy,... more

rodstradamus
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19 days ago
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Goldman Sachs Even Owns Space Satellites

Iridium Announces Goldman Sachs As Lead Financing Advisor
BETHESDA, Md. – October 27, 2009 – Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) today announced that it has engaged Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its lead global advisor on the financing of Iridium NEXT, the company’s next generation satellite constellation. The company continues to expect to fund a substantial portion of the cost of Iridium NEXT from internally generated cash flow, as well as revenues derived from hosted payloads on its next generation constellation and from warrant proceeds. In addition, the recent closing of the company’s merger, which substantially strengthened the company’s balance sheet, has enhanced the opportunity to pursue various financing options. Goldman Sachs will lead the initiative to secure the remainder of funding necessary to develop, build and launch the new constellation, which is anticipated to begin launching in 2014.

Iridium has said that it expects to announce the selection of a prime contractor in the coming months. Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space are competing to secure the prime contract for the development of Iridium NEXT.

“Our business performance, including our recent announcement of our entry into the Mexican market, supports our confidence that a substantial portion of the cost of our next generation of satellites will be funded from internally generated cash flow,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “We are pleased to have appointed Goldman Sachs as our lead advisor, and I am confident that we are in the optimal position to secure the best possible support for Iridium NEXT.”

I found this press release after reading this article, and then I checked out Iridium's site:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5A24WG20091103?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

Pentagon eyes crash analysis on 1,300 satellites

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Tuesday said it met its goal of conducting collision analysis on 800 maneuverable satellites in September, and expects to be able to track 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end.

The U.S. Air Force began upgrading its ability to predict possible collisions in space after a dead Russian military communications satellite and a commercial U.S. satellite owned by Iridium collided on February 10."Iridium Announces Goldman Sachs As Lead Financing Advisor BETHESDA, Md. – October... more

rodstradamus
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Government of the Dead: Goldman Sucks

Friday 30 October 2009: Chris Knight and the Government of the Dead returned to the... more

JasonNParkinson
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20 days ago
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Goldman Sachs Looks to Buy Fannie Mae Tax Credits

"WASHINGTON -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in talks to buy millions of dollars of tax... more

rodstradamus
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21 days ago
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How Goldman Sachs secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash

In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities... more

Future_America
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22 days ago
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Protesters Picket Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo

Hundreds of union members and organizers hit the streets of downtown Chicago this past... more

The_Global_Report
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24 days ago
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'Underemployment': Is the recession really ending?

FROM THE NEWS BLOG: According to the standard unemployment rate 12.2 percent of... more

afitzgerald
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27 days ago
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A Lesson in Transparency by the NY Fed

NY Fed CEO and President (surprise: former Goldmanite) William Dudley ironically... more

WallStCheatSheet
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1 month ago
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Public must learn to 'tolerate the inequality' of bonuses, says Goldman Sachs exec

The financial bailout raised a lot of questions that I never felt were answered: 1)... more

Mulcahey
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1 month ago
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Did Bush's Treasury Secretary, Former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Break The Law?

Did Henry Paulson, George W. Bush's Treasury secretary, break the law?

According to a new book on the financial meltdown by New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, in June 2008, Paulson, who was the chairman of Goldman Sachs before joining the Bush administration, held a secret meeting in Moscow with the board of directors of his former employer. The problem for Paulson—then and possibly now—was that after he had been nominated in 2006 to the Treasury post he had signed an ethics letter vowing to stay clear of potential conflicts of interest with Goldman Sachs and promising not to take any action that might affect the firm's ability to cover his multimillion-dollar pension.

As Sorkin recounts the episode, Paulson and the Goldman Sachs board happened to be in Moscow at the same time. Learning of this coincidence, Paulson asked his chief of staff, Jim Wilkinson, to set up a meeting. Wilkinson was not happy about this. "For fuck's sake!" he thought, according to Sorkin. Paulson told him that the meeting could be considered a social gathering, but as Wilkinson worked out the details with the Goldman Sachs crowd, he asked that the session remain confidential. And the event was not placed on Paulson's official calendar.

When Paulson and the firm's execs got together at the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, the Treasury secretary gave the Goldman Sachs crew his read on what was happening with the economy and his department's effort to prepare for handling failed banks. He also previewed for them an important speech he would soon deliver. That is, he privately shared his views on matters of direct interest to his old firm. And as Sorkin points out, Paulson had at this point never provided such a briefing to any other company (except for once "briefly dropping by" a cocktail party for the board of BlackRock).

In September 2008, as the economy imploded, Paulson obtained an ethics waiver that would permit him to deal with Goldman Sachs. But at the time of the Moscow meeting, he was still covered by his original ethics agreement. And two government watchdog groups now say that Paulson seems to have broken ethics laws when he hobnobbed with his former firm's top brass. Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, tells Mother Jones:

"Henry Paulson’s meeting with the board of directors of his former employer, Goldman Sachs, appears to be a serious violation of ethics laws. Given that the meeting took place in the summer of 2008—months before he received an ethics waiver allowing him to participate in matters that would affect his Goldman pension—it was completely inappropriate for Paulson to discuss internal matters at the Treasury Department, and to preview an important speech he was about to deliver. This could potentially be a criminal or civil matter."Did Henry Paulson, George W. Bush's Treasury secretary, break the law? According to... more