Here's one thing he said:
Our job is to make money from it . . . Goldman Sachs rules the world . . . Personally, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for three years…I go to bed every night and I dream of another recession. When the market crashes… if you know what to do, if you have the right plan set up, you can make a lot of money from this.
Oh, he also said things are only going to get worse.
MUST WATCH
Source: Think Progress Economy
10 comments:
Amazing, isn't it? I posted this on my facebook after seeing it on zerohedge.
Isn't it amazing to hear the truth amidst so many lies? It's really quite remarkable how much more you can learn in a few minutes of truth versus hours of rhetoric bullshit from politicians.
It's also an astonishing window into the sociopathic mind of hardcore traders. But then again, I have a sneaking suspicion that if more people had the knowledge and means to capitalize on an economic meltdown, they would.
I love his bullshit claim that we could "all" be making money. And I like the way he describes the Great Depression. He conveniently forgets to add that A LOT of money was lost. Oh, and he doesn't give a shit that we're talking about millions and millions of people who are suffering. He's an a**hole.
I know, it's true. Like I said, this video is an amazingly frank look into how sociopathic so many of these traders are. I'm pretty sure he's regretting how honest he was.
@SG I thought the exact same thing. Oh well . . . Occupy is spreading across the nation.
Check it out: http://occupytogether.org/
An asshole but not a clinical sociopath. Sociopaths are not candid about being ruthlessly self-interested.
He's half right about the inability of governments to avert the present financial collapse. But governments ought a role to play in reconstructing from the ruins.
He's wrong both morally AND practically in his belief that the collapse presents opportunities. Personally I do see a silver lining, but not the one he sees: What I look forward to is the overdue reform of how money works, and the discrediting of the myth of financiers/parasites as heroic Ayn-Randian "producers". Also, the overdue disillusionment of working class Americans who for too long have believed in the myth of Horatio Alger.
The reason why we will continue to have recessions/depressions is that the banksters, whether in government or the private sector, will cover each other's keysters at the expense of all the rest of us.
All you have to do is look at Greece to know what I am talking about. The Euro-trash bankers will pour money down the Hellenic rathole because, well, for them it's not such a rathole. All you have to do is look at the French transporation and German telecommunications systems powered by Danish and Finnish software in Athens to know that it's in the Eurobanksters' interest to keep Greece on life support. The Greeks had to buy all of those things in order to bring their infrastructure in line with the rest of the Eurozone, and now they can't back away. So the rest of Europe will "bail them out". In the meantime, average French, German and British citizens will be taxed more heavily (if they can be) and will see their standards of living decline. And the Eurocrats will laugh all the way to the bank, literally.
I'm dreaming of a stock market
Crashing like the one three years ago
What would Bing do with that one?
Goldman Sachs Uber Alles.
As for how money was "lost" in Ameria's Great Depression, it wasn't so much "lost" as devalued by FDR by unlawful fiat.
Now, I am in fact a semi-admirer of FDR mainly for how his basic decency persuaded him to support Britain against conquest by Germany in 1940 - otherwise all of Europe, the heart of Western Civilisation/Christendom, would have been lost to Hitler AND Hitler's de facto ally Stalin in 1940. And the total conquest of Europe by Hitler/Stalin would have reduced American civilisation to a marginal one.
So good on FDR for that; if someone like Hoover had been President in 1940, Hitler and Stalin would have become the collaborating emperors of all American and Eurasian nations, and America would have become a satellite of Hitler's empire. (Most Americans of today either don't know, or choose not to remember, that Hitler and Stalin were de facto allies in 1939-41, and that Hitler's imperial aims were perfectly reconcilable with Stalin's. And Hitler and Stalin had virtually identicial ideologies, against which Britain stood almost alone in 1940.)
And I also agree around 60 percent with FDR's New Deal, and 99 percent with his courageous stance against the bankers and robber-barons.
However, the rueful fact remains, that FDR harmed the middle class when he unlawfully ordered all gold coins to be confiscated, and as soon as they were confiscated he (and Congress) increased the official value of gold from 20 dollars to 35 dollars per ounce, thereby reducing the real value of middle-class Americans' savings by around one third. The plutocracy didn't suffer for this, the middle class did.
Hmm... It sounds to me like the trader was pointing out a truth that should be fairly obvious to anyone who is paying attention. The level of person and governmental debt is too high to support any kind of real recovery and is far beyond the ability of governments to deal with it. Governments are not in control any more, individuals looking out for their own self-interest are (ok, he said Goldman Sachs, but my phrasing is clearer).
There are various ways to deleverage but I am inclined to think that the Greeks will be best off if they simply declare bankruptcy. I say this recognizing that the cost to the world economy is likely to be huge. Nonetheless the Greeks (like Iceland before them) will find that the intense pain of loosing almost eveything will be quickly followed by a growing economy unfettered by massive debt.
Ireland was foolish to nationalize their banks, the pain of bank failure would have been intense but they would be far along their recovery by now.
This is true in the US as well. Slowly trickling through foreclosures and preventing student debt from being discharged in bankruptcy will continue to prevent a real recovery until the debt load of the American people is reduced to a manageable level.
I know this site is probably frequented mostly by people who think they are in favor of Keynesian economic remedies but have had little exposure to the alternatives. Bankers love Keynesian economics. One alternative to Keynesian economics is Austrian economics. Among other things, Austrian economics claims that the way to effect an economic recovery is to get rid of bad debt through efficient and quick bankruptcy procedures. Loosing everything hurts, but people who are debt free can concentrate on caring for themselves and can rebuild their lives relatively quickly. This applies to countries, failed banks, and people. According to Austrian economic theory the effect of bailing out banks, extending loans, and generally trying to keep unmanageable debts afloat will be to extend a recession (see Japan for the past 20 years).
Efficient and universally accessible bankruptcy is the opposite of Keynesianism. Everyone should keep this in mind when reading Paul Krugman.
As a saver I spent much of the 2000's watching those who were willing to borrow zoom ahead of me in life. My being in a position to take advantage of the next downturn is not some terribly immoral thing, it is the natural leveling effect of making different choices when times were good. It only takes a little effort to be ready and the downsides are minimal. If the economy suddenly starts growing like crazy I will miss out on part of it - this is a risk I am willing to take.
Now Goldman Sachs on the other hand will be able to take advantage of the coming downturn not because of their own preparation, but because of an indirect government bailout through AIG that prevented them from being bankrupted. Keynesian economics strikes again!
I think there should be something natural in these dinosaur enterprises being in such a big power and ruling the world. Goldman Sachs resembles the story of Lehman Brothers. Maybe, we will be surprised by developments.
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