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[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/28/smlvid_four_swearing_gi.jpg caption="Top Goldman Sachs representatives attempted to deflect criticism Tuesday from lawmakers about the firm's role in the financial crisis."]
Wall Street under fire: Senate vs. Goldman
(CNNMoney) -Top Goldman Sachs representatives - including CEO Lloyd Blankfein - attempted to deflect criticism Tuesday as they faced a blistering cross-examination from lawmakers about the firm's role in the financial crisis.
For more than ten hours, members of a Senate panel skewered current and former executives at Wall Street's top firm with pointed questions and criticisms in an effort to understand how Goldman had positioned itself just as the nation's housing market started to come unraveled in 2007.
"[Goldman Sachs'] conduct brings into question the whole function of Wall Street," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the same committee hosting Tuesday's eagerly anticipated hearing. Read more
Should states regulate hospital rates?
Would you shop in a store where they charge three times more than their cost for everything they sell? Not likely. But that's what thousands of Americans are doing every day when they check into a hospital. Hospitals in this country, on average, charge 180% above cost for every procedure performed. Except in Maryland, where state regulation means patients pay a lot less, and often get more. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen reports for part three of our original series, "Prescription for Waste."
Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.
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I agree with Imus on the hearings. The Senators, especially Levin, looked woefully ill-informed and just indulging in grand-standing. Goldman wasn't selling those instruments to bunch of grandma's on welfare, they were selling to sophisticated banks and investors who had all the expertise in the world. "They came looking for risk, and they found it." What was wrong with Goldman selling stuff that they found too risky? To a bunch of banks who had risk-assessors. This is just more Washington scape-goating and grandstanding. Same ole, same ole. These Dem senators need to start learning the system before they ask questions to politick.
And why was it that CNN gave only one side of the story this morning on Republicans blocking the financial reform bill vote. Why didn't they tell the audience, as Fox DID, that what the Republicans want to do is have discussion on their ALTERNATE financial reform bill? Voting for floor debate on the Dodd bill amounts to passage of that bill. To make matters worse, CNN is interviewing only Dodd on the issue, not the Republicans!!! Not balanced this morning. Very gullible on this issue!!!
Thanks for a great discussion everyone. See you back here tomorrow!
I am an attorney with over 35 years of experience. The areas I practice in include consumer law and class actions. I have also handled security fraud cases.
The actions of Goldman Sacks concerning the conflict of interest in selling toxic assets and managing hedge fund is not only a conflict of interest, but also civilly and criminally illegal. in violation of federal and state laws./
Goldman Sacks has breached their fiduciary duty in not disclosing their conflict of interest, that the securities were toxic assets, and managing hedge funds where served their interests, but hurt their investors interests. The failure of complete disclosure constitutes fraud. T
his failure of complete disclosure constitutes mail and wire fraud (which are federal criminal felonies) assuming the mail and telecommunication such as the internet, telephones, and wire transaction between banks, stock exchanges, etc. were also part of the transactions.
Realizing there were many transactions over a long period of time, this is also Racketeering which is a criminal act.. There most likely with be many class action filed. Hopefully the US Attorney General with obtain an indictment, and the State Attorney Generals with also prosecute both the company and its officers and executives involed in this sham practice which has cause a financial crisis here and around the world.
@Al.. I'm sure the insurance companies will take their newly found profits to help the American people... lol.. more likely they'll be sharing it will the politicians that made the profits possible.
Wow ! Carl Levin was on fire this morning. He sure showed the CNN talking heads how to summarize the viliany of Wallstreet greed and how to organize the appropriate response. Go Carl ! ! !
Doctors in Canada are paid on a per patient basis. Flat rate per patient. They are paid through income taxes rather than a monthly insurance payment. By paying through taxes it eliminates the administration required to bill insurance holders every month and keep track of the payments. Health care is a provincial responsibility though. This creates inequities from one province to another. One province will cover a certain procedure while another province will not. It is a complex balancing act between taxes to pay for it and money spent per year. No one wants to pay more taxes but they dont want coverage cut either. Overall, no one is refused service or bumped from one hospital to another to avoid the costs. Its not perfect but has served me well over the last 40 yrs.
sergio.... I dont want to keep talking about illegal imigration if nothing is going to be done about it either. By the way how long have you payed your taxes for that schooling your getting?
Please Carl Levin.. do not return to the Great State of Michigan we don't need you here anymore.
Financial reform will not be the sole answer, unless people become smarter. Obviously, if what I am witnessing if CNN is any indication of the general level of prevailing stupidity, we are not out of the woods yet. Do you really thing that anyone will publicly admit that GS committed a crime, though they may privately believe it. We all share the blame, well I trust that it only applies to you, as please keep me out of the royal we. GS knew that it was selling junk with triple AAA rating, they not only abuse the investors trust, but they misrepresented the products they were selling to investors. They behave like crooks, and crooks to obey any laws.
With this oil leak in the gulf some ones head needs to be on the chopping block and steps needs to be asap to address other oil rigs that dont have automatic cut off's .
Elizabeth Cohen started her report stating that markups were profits and advocating government control of medical prices. The report was misleading, missed the real problems and ignorant of the facts.
Markups include more then profits. I am an engineer. In my business markups are 300% but profits are only 10%. The actual profits are less because the profits that are estimated must cover losses.
The subject is too complicated to fit into CNN American Morning 30 second sound bites. Some hospitals are State or County owned and make no profits yet their markups are also high. Some hospitals offer free services and are paid for by charity but they have cost accounting that uses markups. You could present a fare representation of the subject by identifying the profits that are actually made from these various medical systems instead of markups and falsely say that markups are profit..
Finally, we have government medical cost control in Medicare and Medicaid. Government price control is the number one reason for high medical costs. Medicare and Medicaid are the largest single entitlement in the Federal budget and reason for deficit spending. When you report on government price control of medical services, let us know what it will cost in more taxes or deficit spending.
Sincerely, Stephen Jackson
Lois Carson
Thanks for speaking up for us Latins because I believe most of us are to angry to speak clearly. I posted a comment earlier about this situation, and got told that I was late and in the wrong room. I guess because I'm not discussing GS. GS execs robbed the country blind and are getting off with no punishment. What else is new!!! Question... what constitutes probable cause for questioning someones citizenship? As far as I can see the only probable cause, is if they catch you swimming across the Rio grande or climbing the fence. everything else is racial profiling. Question 2... how does a regular american prove his, or her citizenship? must we all carry our passports or birth certificates? aren't there many Europeans who overstay their visas and remain here illegally? I dont mind someone questioning my citizenship, so long as my white friends have to produce the same citizenship documents I do. The problem is that most Americans cannot readily provide proof of citizenship. A driver's license is NOT proof of citizenship. This means that all Arizona citizens will have to carry either a passport, birth certificate, or a certificate of naturalization.
As for why your politicians are exempt from the reform package...I dont know...I'm not a politician and was not involved in the negotiations.
Carl Levin is either hopelessly naive about the financial system or a cynical demagogue. To talk about Goldman having a "huge" short, when ignoring their long positions is tantamount to harping on the fact that two million people voted against the Senator in his reelection campaign - and ignoring that many more people voted for him.
I never said it was good...but its better than what came before it. I did say the function of the public option was to keep costs in check. And if insurance companies make more money (because now more people are paying for insurance) maybe they will be able to keep EVERYONE'S costs down instead of making the few with insurance pay for EVERYONE who doesnt have insurance. If that continued...no one would be able to afford insurance. However, just like Wall Street, they will probably give themselves big bonuses and raise prices. Then it will be time for more rules to make these corporations act like humans and good citizens
RE: Prescription for Waste
Love the piece about MAryland, Has anyone looked into how much dostors get paid in Maryland? Is it less than other states? Is the care any worse for it? I do understand how very very important healthcare providers are, but are our medical people over paid? Why do the hospitals have to mark things up so much, are they just trying to cover overhead?
how are doctors paid in Canada or Denmark? And is the care better or worse for it? How about other countries that have similar structures to our own?
According to Carl Levins thinking – when one Democrats says something it holds true for all Democrats.
The debate in the news and congress about the sale of risky products by Goldman Saks is about three well known and related economic concepts – “Asymmetric Information”, “Moral Hazard” and “Principal-Agent Problem”. A moral hazard is a situation when a party is insulated from risk and as a result may (not that it absolutely will) behave differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk – the removal of consequences of risky behavior makes you act in a riskier way then you would normally act.
Asymmetric Information is just what it sounds like -when one party in a transaction has more information than another (like the seller of a used car has more information about that car then any buyer). This is also is also called “Principal-Agent Problem”. The agent, a fiduciary for the principal, has more information than the principal for all sorts of reasons and in this case knowing exactly what was included in the mortgage pool. The Moral Hazard occurs when the agent is insulated from risk and generally has more information about its actions, recommendations and intentions than the Principal and about the negative consequences of the risk and does not advise accordingly and acts selfishly as a result of the Asymmetric Information. Put another way, the moral hazard occurs when the party with more information about its actions or intentions has a tendency or incentive to behave inappropriately from the perspective of the party with less information. All of this may explain the situation with Goldman Saks being discussed.
Chief, I work and go to school, and have little time to blog. If my comment is late, I apologize for that. But i have not heard anyone on any network discuss this aspect of the law. I was told on the air that I could comment on the topics being discussed this morning, That is why I posted. What are your thoughts? Do you really want to keep talking about how the GZ people are not going to jail for what they did?
Is America coming unglued transforming from state to country and is Arizona the first or last .
Sorry Al... all the health care "reform" did is increase the profits for the insurance companies... did nothing for the cost to the American public.
If it's so good .. why are the politicians that voted to inflict it on us exempt for it?
Got an answer?
Apartheid in Arizona
Arizona just instituted a "pass law" with SB 1070; it is analogous to the pass laws of South Africa is applied to only one group of people , a group who actually are part of the indigenous people.As a black American, I am outraged. The implications for other groups is clear.
James Baldwin said when he visited Angela Davis in prison,: "if they take you tonight, they will come for me in the morning".
Lois Carson
San Bernardino,CA
anthoony – what are you talking about? They played by the rules they did nothing illegal as of yet and you can't make felonious comments like that until the SEC is done investigating. Hey, there is a question, where was the SEC during 2007-2009..that's right they were looking at porn. Yes, we need more government involvement, they do it so well.
Melon....another inflammatory statement with no substance? Dont fall off that soap-box...you might have to use your healthcare.
al mack.... how many years have you worked and payed taxes in usa?
Al.. are you a sheep that has to be told how to think by corrupt politicians?
this is the age of OBAMABILITY!! which ryhymes with ACCOUNTABILITY! if you didn't fill up at the trough during the last 8 yrs, you better not get caught with your fingers in the cookie jar now! i am LOVING it!! i love to see all those politicians who would be vacationing and "on recess" and living the life, working their asses off!! I LOVE it!! i haven't seen since this much talk and debating and shouting on the Hill since Mr. Smith goes to Washington! watching sen levin and comany burn new butt holes in those gms weasels was a definite peak moment in my life! Long Live the President!!
The CEO's of goldmans were doing what they do; make money. Our lawmakers don't work for us anymore. Just look at any interview that CNN has with any lawmaker of any party and its always the same, we're gonna fix this.
This is the reason the money makers are talking trash; they know. Those lawmakers are playing us like a fiddle and its nothing we can do about it.
They're gonna fix it because they allow it to break through the lobbist
good morning, I would love to see the same group of Senators have in front of them next the very wealthy owners of "car title loans" or check cashing owners both who gouge people who struggle and can not get a legit loan from a bank but can get a quick loan without a background check on the spot. If Congress regulates banks why shouldnt these people be regulated also they make "loans"
Erica....the Moost news in the morning ... is a segment on the show. Jeanne Moos does a fluff piece for the end of the hour. Usually quite funny.
I would like to see goldmans banking license taken thats
how they were able to do the damage they did. They knew
to get money from the tax payors me they had to get recognized
as a bank...so went to the fdic and applied for charter to
a banking institution so they could borow money
at 1% and by securities and an get 3% free profit at
tax payors expense and also bailout money they an't dumb
problem is the fdic knows it along with congress but won't
do anything to stop them from robbing me and you.
sergio.... your a day late and on the wrong blog. You need to read other peoples comments so you will know what is being talked about this morning.
Any person that is against stopping illegal aliens from invading the US is Anti-American and is seeking to destroy the country. That includes all politicians in Washington.
Capital Hill treated Martha Stewart Like a dog, she took it like a trooper, and went to prison , all because someone told her to sell.To watch these low life's get of so easy, is an absolute injustice. Put them in Prison America, They did not care, give them 25 years to think about it..
"No terrorist in the world could have weakened America and capitalism more" . A quote by Pat Choate, Ross Perot's 1996 vice presidential running mate regarding wall street and the money industry (Saving Capitalism-Keeping America Strong, Vintage Books 2009)
If you think Congress is going to fix the problem, read Chapter One of Saving Capitalism by Pat Choate – its frightening.
The common thread about this GS garbage seems to be "more regulations". GS played by the rules and won...now everyone is POed that they made money at the expense of everyone else. NewsFlash...thats how it works. Its is a shame that everything must collapse before the US realizes that maybe some rules would be a good idea. You guys sound downright Socialist...hehehe. And your right...regulations are neccessary. Government might not be perfect...but it is better than economic Anarchy.
The bottom line is you cant trust none of em when it comes to the dollar bill and power no matter what party their in. America is a steam roller waiting to derail.
It isn't fair to say that they said "they have no responsibility in the financial crisis". It is a matter of position and it is not as simple as a sound-byte, to attempt to make it so is a critical mistake. We had reforms in place to stop the compilation of investment banking and market managers, Congress (with Chris Dodd in toe) removed the regulation that limited that. We now trust the same non-business people to make another financial decision? The best question asked during the hearings yesterday was when one Senator asked the GS leaders "what would you reform". That is what should be asked of financial leaders, not politicians.
CNN thanks for being there for Democrats, we know we can count on the good ol AM crew to have only Democrats as guests and completely shut out Republicans from the debates, it's wonderful to have our own news network! Who needs that nasty ol opposition party we should be the only party in the US. Goooooo us.
Rudy...when was the last time you worked for $2 a day? Those jobs were outsourced because you were too expensive to hire. No one will buy jeans for $150 a pair. People dont want to pay US costs to maintain US jobs. You cost too much.
I want to bring up an issue I have not heard in the Arizona Immigration debates. What will happen to Immigrant families that need police assistance now that Policemen in that state have been converted into immigration officers? Why would anyone call the police to report a crime if they are scared of being deported or questioned about their citizenship?
Arizona has just excluded a large segment of the population from reporting crimes in their area. I believe this will open a situation where immigrants will be targeted by criminals since criminals know that immigrants will not call the cops for fear of deportation. This was already happening, but now the criminals know that the law is on their side when it comes to illegals. Why would a family who is being robbed or a girl who is being raped call the cops now?
Will you please report on this particular side effect of the Arizona immigration law? I believe that cops should protect and serve the people in their community regardless of citizenship status, and the INS should beef-up their efforts in securing our problem border. This "solution" will be more problematic than helpful.
Ms Cohen's story was very good, wish she would do other states as well especially here in Florida where there are many senior people who are retired and could benefit from hospital shopping. Another great story could be done by her or Dr Gupta on the staph infection in hospitals oh mrsa which is a big secret and some hospitals have a huge problem where others dont?
Melon...are you a GOP plant? You dont sound very educated. And your arguements remind me of Palin. Drivel. No substance.
The Goldman Sachs scenario really damages consumer trust. It reminds me of the classic double bind. The only winner is the designer of the bind, and that is unlikely to be the consumer.
The emphasis by the media on the word used by Senator Levin is puerile. The word was used in an appropriate sense by the Senator to show exactly how crass Goldman Sachs personalities were- and it was necessary to show that- So all of the commentary/criticism about the word being used in the Senate is majoring in minors- which is what regrettably America seems to excel at.- whilst important matters get swept under the carpet.
I am a surgeon in MA. I was interested in your story this morning on hospital charges which are the same issues doctor's face. Your story implied that the medical profession is overcharging for services. However, the host did say that we the profession only get a fraction of what we charge but I am not sure the average listener got that.
The bottom line is hospitals and doctors can charge 1000% over what the fee is but only get paid whatever the insurance wants to pay and we are beholden to this.
I run a small business/medical practice and I have employees who depend on me and student loans and malpractice insurance etc..most overhead for a medical practice is 60%-70%. What is more important than your health? Should not doctors and allied health people be paid very well to keep you alive and healthy? Is it more important that your software salesman or car dealer manager make twice as much as most doctors? Should people in Wall Street or even people who read teleprompters on TV make 2 to 3 times as much as a good ethical doctor seeing 40 patients a day? We are benevolent and caring people but we are not being compensated fairly in my opinion. We have no pension or retirement plan for us we have to do it ourselves. In the last 10 years we have not had an increase to our reimbursements but we have increase in our cost to do business. If we get paid any less we cannot survive and provide the best care available. Time is what is important and a lot of our time spent with a patient is covering ourselves and filling out redundant paperwork and even calling out patients. All of this time is NOT reimbursed. Every 15 minutes a lawyer spends with you on or off the phone costs someone money. The bottom line is that most doctors are overworked and underpaid for the services they provide and until we put a value on that care and pay the people who save you and keep you healthy there will be a continued decline in the quality of care. This is not to say that some specialties are overpaid but there needs to be reform but it has to have the input from real doctors in the real world.
Hey Paul, health care reform MIGHT fail ... but only becuase the GOP managed to get the public option dropped. That was the brake on the costs of health care. If a citizen could get the same coverage from a public option but at a lower price than what the private insurance companies charge...what would they do? The private companies would have to lower prices in order to compete with the public option. No public option...no brake on costs...stupid stupid stupid.
I am so sick and tired of hearing our government leaders putting on this show of going after these corrupt bissinesses that that have helped ruin our countries economy! The truth is, no one, not even the press, has the guts to put the blame on the true culprit, the leader of our country. The commander in chief, George bush!!! Let"s not forget, the congress, the republicans for allowing it and the spineless democrats, for not raising so much he'll about it, as to draw attn. To it. What about the media, whose job it IS , to let the keep the people , informed. No, we don"t want to hear about balloons flloating in the air, we want real news!!! Were can we find that, without a show of partiality????
Not to defend Goldman but the fact that anyone in the U.S. Congress is sitting in judgement of Wall Street is laughable. In my opinion the Federal Governments out of control spending and debt based economic policy is just as detrimental to this country as what Wall Street is doing.
Why haven't we seized the assets of these crooks like we do with other organized crime figures and alleged drug dealers. Sounds like an organized conspiracy to me. Let's hold their limo and New York condos and Newport houses that were all bought with money taken through fraud.
Politicians will not fix financial refrom simply b/c they take money from these corporate giants. Americans or a non-profit organization must come up with a solution and present it to Congress.
Yep... only the Democrats are interested in finanicial "reform"....lol..
The Democrat are as responsible for the happenings on Wall St as the Republicans are.
Hi CNN,
Who is this bozo, Dodd, trying to bamboozle? The Glass-Seigel act was created to prevent this type of behavior from the banks. It's our own government that has been purchased by the banks and insurance companies that eventually did away from this protection of the american public. Now we've got to pay for their bailouts? Give me a break.
On another note: If Obama is having diffulty with jobs in america, then bring those jobs that went overseas back to the US.
Just my .02
Rudy
Dodd... another double-talking politician.
Why are the Republicans not asking tough questions during the Wall Street hearings? It seems that the Democrats are the only ones interested in financial reform.
Regarding the growing oil slick approaching the Gulf coast...what has Sarah Palin done about this? I suggest a big rally to chant "spill baby, spill!"
these so called CEO's from Goldman Sachs should pay a health find for what they done a lot of people lost everything even there homes so, they need to compensate the people they hurt . All of this lip service was nothing more then a waste of time , no one going to jail , nothing else will happen to them, So make the one that benefited the most pay the most. Now that will teach them a lesson
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." – Thomas Jefferson
The Democrats were fooled with health care "reform". Did nothing for the cost of health care ... only increased profits for the insurance companies.
When will the people wake up?
It seems like the recurring theme from the Goldman Sucks execs is: We're market makers, we can do no wrong, Greed is good, what Main Street thinks or wants is irrelevant, get used to it!
From the senate panel side: You're crooks, you're going down! Get used to it!
I have such a hard time getting through , so if I'm doing something wrong let me know. My comment is ; I support the CEO's the lawmakers are to blame, they need not to be lobbied out of doing their jobs. I'm not buying their grand standing; the lawmakers, go after them CNN they;re the reason we're in this place.
@kathryn
Health care refrom did not address costs – it is an insurance takeover, still does not address costs (think about the admin overhead that exists a hospital just to address lawsuits)
also, a gallon of gas used to cost .25, a loaf a bread cost a nickle....
OH .. God... Obama giving us his "thoughts" on Goldman-Sachs? Who actually cares what he thinks? Does he want to do for Wall St what he did for health care insurance?... lol ... We are all in serious do do if he does.
Obama is doing more damage to the Country than Goldman-Sachs ever could. He wants the GOP to debate Wall St "reform" but rejected the GOP during health care insurance "reform'?
The way you are presenting the whole GS situation, makes me wonder if you are not planning to throw them a big ticker-tape parade soon. They have not done anything illegal is a precarious statement, and no evidenced of illegal activities has yet surfaced may be more appropriate. Either, their actions were reckless and unintentional, i.e.: well intend with no regards for the possible consequences, or their actions were meant to defraud unsuspecting investors. If they had to do it all over again, they would not change one iota. I would like to know what is in for CNN, to take sides with GS and blindly give them absolution. In any case, they are now vulnerable as this will follow them for ever, they have sealed their faith as the unrepentant mighty GM did.
Dear CNN
I watch the Circus on T.V. yesterday, I am refering to the Senate hearings on what caused the housing and finacial markets. It looked more like a witch hunt in a atempt to find someone to blame when it falls on all of us. I am not saying that what Goldmans did was right, and I don't think that they were the only ones involved in snafu. Greed is what caused what happened to us plain and simple. How much money is enough, how is it that we have people that time after time we see ponsie scams and securities fraud on the news. Greed plain and simple. We teach our children from the time they walk on what is important in life "MONEY" not honor or service to our fellow man. Love, familly and teaching our children that money is not everything. We go to collage not to learn to better ourselfs but to get rich.
I saw nothing in the Senate herrings yesterday that showed that Goldmans did anything more than these very Senators do themselfs which is look out for number 1. Yes they have a couple e-mails when taken out of context looks like something. I can find at least that much on our Senators and Congress everyday. As far as I know thier is no law against being stupid. If you are going to have herrings on what went wrong with our system try to have at least some proof so that you don't show the world how stupid our government leaders are with the dog and pony show. I dont like what Goldmans did but I dont see any proof of wrong doing, if you want to know what went wrong look in the mirror.
Yep, this was a real accomplishment. Wouldn't surprise me if ALL the parties were having dinner and drinks, laughing at the BIG SHOW they put on for us!
Dear CNN staff: please see the front page story on the Clarionledger.com site that details the story of the young mother in Yazoo City, MS who sacrificed her life so her three young children would live during Saturday's tornado. She is a hero, the story needs to be told and her sacrifice and heroism recognized. Please tell Anderson Cooper that she is a candidate for a CNN Hero Award. Thank you.
Scott from Mississippi.
I can't decide what is funnier ... politicians going after Goldman-Sachs – seeing it is the politicians of both parties that "allowed" Goldman-Sachs to act the way they have
OR
The American public only blaming Goldman-Sachs instead of laying as much blame on the politicians.
The majority of Americans are sheep being led around by the nose by the politicians. Politicians had no problem lining their own pockets at taxpayers expense and it is still happening.
Dear CNN producers,
Correction – one of the spinning "The Most News in the Morning" says "The Moost News in the Morning." The kyron writers might need to take a look at that.
Erica
So the hypocrites in congress say "have you no shame" to Goldman Sachs...I say to congress "have you no shame" as they vote themselves another pay raise during these tough economic times
and while their approval rating is in the toilet. November can't come soon enough!
my last entry of this day is simplly to announce what Warren Buffett and Bill Gates' dad have told us and that is to "STOP SHORT SELLING ALL TOGETHER"...that s where true reform begins!
Health care costs have gone crazy, including dental costs. It used to cost $5 to have a tooth pulled ( about 45 years ago)> Now its about $200 per tooth, what has changed so drastically? A tooth pulled is a tooth pulled right? Do they do it because they can? Is that what free enterprise has led to? We need some form of regulation and it has to begin at the top, as opposed to the bottom... the bottom folks cannot do it anymore.
i always enjoy listening to a congressmen spew their feelings and sharing their thoughts – all the while providing no facts.
If making money is a crime, why is steve jobs not in jail? he seems to have been pretty successfull and I think the I-phone and Ipad are to expensive – the gov should set the price!
To add to this.. Goldman Sachs are the very people who spout on and on about personal responsibility that the people who wanted a nice house but really couldn't afford it actaully signed up for the fools errand. They say well they should have lived "within" their means..meanwhile betting against the very fools they granted the loans to and wrapping up variables that didn't exist as christmas presents to other unsuspecting fools and then when they get caught defrauding the American people..claim no personal responsibility whatso ever. These are the people we trust with our money..LOL.. we are all fools and worse fools for standling idle by while wall street makes a mockery of all of us.
I think this whole debacle with Goldman Sachs and the Senate is just one big circus! We all know that Goldman and Lloyd Blankfein is guilty for placing bets on wheather the housing market and such is going to fail or wheather its going to make money, this is wrong and very UnAmerican, these fat cats on Wall Street are out for one thing and its not for the best interest of the American people its all about how much money they can make no matter how much they scam taxpayers out of there money! We need financial reform now so the consumer can be protected and Wall Street can be held accountable for once! Also Im loving Elizabeth Cohen's special about high medical costs in the hospitals because lets face it its outrageous what hospitals charge when you go to the emergency room, doctor's office, etc... I know because Im one who has lots of debt in medical bills!
Scott Stodden (Freeport,Illinois)
Here's what I'm not hearing and I believe is critical to investigate and discuss. Why can certain companies trade "After Hours" and not you or I?
In 2000 I lost more than $70,000 over a weekend because of "After Hours" trading and have stayed out of the market until recently. That's how afraid I have been to invest since then. I went to bed on Friday having $70,000 invested in some very solid stocks and woke up to find all of my investment lost.
How can anyone compete and make money day trading if they are not allowed to trade "After Hours" like the 'Big' guys?
a deriviative in the home market was called in slang "a basket of housemaids" and in this Goldman Sachs case the housemaids chosen were those that the landlords (Paulson and gang) knew had cancer so as to have a reasonable idea that the maids wouldn't survive as long as a housemaid with good health.
Sachs knew they were selling cancerous maids and if they tell you they knew the home mortage crisis wasn't headed in the nations way then they never would have set the derivative up. Remember the one that sets up the derivative is called a slave maker and a castle taker!
Absolutely sickning... they sit there with their smutt little attitudes and their 6,000 dollar suits, probably flew a personal jet in to the hearings to get flammed by more stuffy arrogant smutts putting on an act on how outraged they are about the situation. Its all a show trial and trying to humiliate people who have already sold their soles to the devil doesn't do a thing. These wall street boys don't have a shred of decency to them or self respect so this flamming just gave them a nice sun tan. They were prepped for the situation and had their talking points to stick too. They weren't hurt in the least by any of this. Just a show trial to someone attempt to give the illusion that congress is doing something about the issue on a superficial level. Its a joke..and everyone out there ..."Heres your sign"
Everyone is lying, they already stole, how much more crap we going to listen to??? Take the money back, that will hurt there feelings, oh wait they don't care well neither should we!!! USA is the way!!!
Congress does not have the qualifications to take over any industry. I expect failure with health care insurance takeover (it did nothing to impact costs) and the proposed takeover of the financial industry.
Goldman is being taken to the shed because of how much they made not because of the product they offered.
Wake up BOB .. it's not just the GOP. Wall St wouldn't be where it's at if it wasn't for the DEMOCRATS.
Pay attention, please.
The southern border is secure as it's ever been?... Of course it is. It has never been secure so it's the same.
The Democrats will do anything to get votes.
The American people are real tired of the inaction in Congress. It is time for us to say NO, to the GOP.
Maybe the executives at Goldman-Sachs should run for political office. They have the spew down pat.
Gee... Russians laying to Americans – who'd thunk it?
You can point and snear at Goldman all you want, the fact is that the regulations that shall result from the finger pointing will increase the powers of not only the Federal Reserve but of the SEC.
The Federal Reserve being a private bank, so when you give power to a private bank, who does it work for the benefit of? Other banks.
The SEC, reported as a Government "watchdog" employs former bankers and as reported former bank executives. This is what's known as the "revolving door." A CEO of a company comes to work for Government to "monitor" the industry that they made millions in. "Putting wolves in charge of sheep" is what it is.
Top Goldman Sachs to be sacked. When Government.,Industry, Finance, Academic, Military, Media and Religion(spirituality+ethics) do the People wrong the system collapses in on itself with Goldman Sachs a physical example to my words.
Media under the influence of Government, Industry and Finance with the People under the influence of Religion. Personally I will be glad once Media shakes off that influence so that truth may be delivered rather than the fabricated truths delivered.
The double talk and verbal dodging done by Goldman Sachs and others is completely offensive. They need to be held accountable for their actions and share the financial burden they inflicted on the nation.
I'm not a fan of government getting deeply involved in regulating businesses, but how about if we have the very people who had a direct hand in the collapse pay for the burden they created for the nation? Why should they get away with huge profits at the expense of the nation and tax payers?
Good Morning Kiran & John!
You guys are looking great this morning, unlike those Goldman Sachs fatcats during their unofficial roast! I love how the senate panel members quoted their e-mails verbatim! It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out, because out here on main street we're a little steamed to say the least..
Have a great rest of the morning guys! 🙂
Have
could you up-date people on whats happening with un-employment extenions, i have just completed filing bank ruptcy and have only 3 weeks of benefits left
Good Morning CNN!
There will never be any true Wall St "reform" as long as there is politicians slinging mud.