Goldman Sachs

Most people, including myself, have no idea what financial institutions do. Whatever it is they do do, it sounds like a sweet gig, especially now that any competition that may have existed before the crash of 2008, is now gone. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are running wild with taxpayer money, no regulation and no competition.

The New York Times reported today:

Titans like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are making fortunes in hot areas like trading stocks and bonds, rather than in the ho-hum business of lending people money. They also are profiting by taking risks that weaker rivals are unable or unwilling to shoulder — a benefit of less competition after the failure of some investment firms last year.

After the bailout, it’s obvious that for Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, no matter what they do, the government will not allow them to fail. It’s the old joke, tails I win, heads you lose.

It might be time to stop pretending that we live in a country that believes wholeheartedly in free market economics – the people might believe in it but the corporations running the country clearly don’t (e.g. health insurance companies, energy companies and banks). There’s nothing free about certain banks pillaging the US Treasury of hundreds of billions upon hundreds of billions of dollars while others are left to go bankrupt.

And as for the workers, real unemployment is 17 percent and going up. I guess the recession is over. Right?

Even while unemployment continues to climb, bailed out companies like J.P. Morgan are still making money. Last quarter, J.P. Morgan made $3.6 billion despite having to write off credit card and mortgage losses. At least someone’s making money, right?

HuffPost has an AP story about J.P. Morgan’s profit-making magic