Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Will Lloyd Blankfein Become a Sacrificial GS LambThrown to DOJ?

If a probe by the DOJ into Goldman’s conduct ahead of the financial crisis is expedited and the focus turns to Blankfein’s actions, the thinking goes, Goldman’s board of directors will likely offer Blankfein up as a sacrifice in exchange for leniency, reports Charlie Gasparino.

The view on Wall Street is that the DOJ will not bring charges against Blankfein but will force him to leave.

Naturally, it's all outrageous over reach of government, from the Senate probe to the DOJ investigation to any forcing out of Blankfein. If Goldman Sachs or Blankfein did something illegal, the government should solve the matter in court. Not by dictating who runs a firm and when.

Bottom line, the passive/aggressive vindictive President hasn't forgotten Blankfein's diss of a sit down Obama called, which Blankfein didn't make because of  fog, while JPMorganChase's CEO Jamie Dimon made the meeting.

Blankfein has been a colosal failure at handling public relations and government relations. For the CEO of such a powerful insider firm to be on the hot seat is absurd. Rest assured the next Goldman CEO will have political skilz.

1 comment:

  1. It's not so much over-reach of the government but a sign of the government's co-option.

    Instead of being serious about across-the-board prosecution of financial crime, which would have had half the officers at most major financial institutions in trouble, GS was offered up as the symbolic wrong-doer, conveniently, AFTER Paulson had been granted public absolution (see McLean's kid-glove's treatment of him and the cover stories of Time etc.).

    A little "controlled anti-Semitism" is allowed, nay, fostered, against relatively easy targets like Blankfein; followed by some "controlled anti-anti Semitism" both dispensed by vetted and acceptable mouthpieces.

    Nothing wrong with going after GS. But high profile shake-downs of this kind are intended to look like something "was done" without doing much of anything.

    Sane goes for "ass-pounding jail" and other colorful epithets dispensed by "Hunter Thompson Lite".

    It is all theater, to channel public outrage, while the usual suspects throw a hasty cover over the skeletons, rearrange the crime scenes, and then strike their saw-no-evil-heard-no-evil-poses.

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