Not getting into what I think of the conclusions of this article...

I really hate articles like this. There is nothing specifically stated to back up the conclusion. Give specific actions taken by Goldman and show why that exploted people.

Secondly, even if some groups within Goldman did do this, its a vast oversimplification to say "Godlman Sachs Is Robbing Us Blind." I know, its hard to get very nuanced in an article like this, but at least state which divisions of Goldman did this. A lot of groups in Goldman are not structuring products. Some of them are facilitating trade of other companies, some are just buying and selling stock, some of them are doing economic research, etc...

An article like this is meant to provoke anger, and thats fine. Without getting people really mad, nothing will ever change (I mean this in a broader context as well, not just with respect to Goldman). If a large power financial institution is truly using dishonest methods to rob us, we should figure out what to do. I just wish there was some reference to a cold hard fact, a link to further reading which wasn't just the article itself on the huffington post or something to allow people to make an informed decision.

Ah well.

Edit: Spelling, a few additions.

Pick your slogan for Wall Street in general, but especially the insiders club of Goldman:

A) "Heads I win, tails you lose" or

B) "Socialism for the rich" (privatize profits and socialize losses).

"Ten Principles for a Black Swan-proof World": http://chrisco.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/ten-principles-for-a... -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb's ideas ("Fooled by Randomness"). See also the Nouriel Roubini links there.

NYT: "Wall Street Smarts": http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/opinion/14trillin.html?_r=... -- Interesting op-ed.

"Now this method of "business" is only possible if the government continues to allow these crooked insurance contracts to be written in secret, allows them to hold little or no money in reserve for payment "

This is what I don't understand. Why is the government responsible? Shouldn't the buyer of an insurance make sure that they are getting their money's worth? If the insurance is not transparent enough, it is just another reason not to buy.

Here's the startup equivalent: 1) The creation of Federal Startup

2) Federal Startup's job is to ensure we have a stable, vibrant startup culture

3) Federal Startup loans money to startups using money it prints

4) Goldman Cloud company, a successful startup, places key people in high levels of government, including Federal Startup

5) Goldman Cloud company takes many risks with the knowledge that Federal Startup will help them if things get very bad

6) Things get bad, loans dry up. Goldman Cloud has a former CEO which now runs Federal Startup. They work together to 'fix' the system.

7) At the end of the day, after the turmoil is over, Goldman Cloud is one of the last startups standing

Personally, I don't blame Goldman Sachs, but I do blame the Federal Reserve and US Treasury. End the Fed.

The problem with CDS is when they are based on crap, ie the ability of people without money to buy houses.

Clever people looked into those CDS and decided to bet against them. They became extremely rich during the crisis.

There is nothing wrong with CDS, it's just that it was based on crap and people didn't do their homework. "It earns money, must be cool".

Want to prevent this? Well have American banks join Basel II. Stop allowing them loaning money to people who will never be able to reimburse. Make sure insurance companies like AIG can't enter the derivative products market so easily.

And please stop reading articles from people who learnt about derivative products yesterday.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this is nothing new…