This is a story that has to be told. Keep up the pressure.

Goldman Sachs – Top corporate contributor to Obama, giving him almost $1 mil in 2008. Also key contributor to Dems, giving over 4 mil in 2008. BTW GS has given more to Dems than GOP in last 20 plus years. They know who it is easier to manipulate!

Ever wonder why they try so hard to discredit the new president and ignore the transgressions of the past congresses?
You let big money into politics and it corrupts big time. They are then able to use the public purse to spread disinformation.
Priceless

Yup, Republicans. They don’t even need to pay them much.

Sooth, why didn’t you throw the same kind of tizzyfit when Bush GAVE AWAY, with zero strings attached, 700 billion dollars before he left office?

At least Obama has attached regulations to the money. Shrub just gave it away, like a gift, and you didn’t say a word.

Jed Clampett

Excellent work Matt, at least the small excerpt we can see online.
I like the quote about the Melon with a Ribbon being dropped from the 50th floor and making as much money as possible and get out before it hits the ground.
That tactic has gone on for way too long and keeps happening over and over, yet the American public seems blissfully unaware about how they are being ripped off.

Peace, keep the good work coming.

Here is one even better – Remember Bear Sterns – That was the 1st major red flag everybody saw – and what happens – W and Jamie “Potter” Diamond of JP Morgan go in a dark smoke filled poker room and work out a weekend deal and leave investors who bought BSC stock on Friday and then on Monday find out that they can’t trade BSC anymore becasue now BSC is JPM – Pretty Sad – Talk about thrwoing tax money to wall street – JPM gets money from the gov to buy BSC and then gets money again in the form of TARP – and Goldman Sachs is sitting on the sidelines watching all this happen just waiting to jump in and manipulate the markets yet again – Why do you think GS was able to be one of the highest valued stocks over that course of time and has still been able to ride out the storm till this day…..

Call it what want, it was a just stat showing the Dems for what they are.
I know you will try and spin it in another direction like the ridiculous statement about cap and trade was needed to prevent mass deaths in the next ice age.

Matt Taibbi is the only reason I venture to read Rolling Stone these days. I dream that one day he stages a revolution and institues a strict policy of gonzo adherence at this periodical or at the very least a regime of increased swearing, mandatory drug usage and no Jonas Brother coverage unless one overdoses in an amusing or ironic fashion.

Also Tim Dickinson if you ever read this; please excersice some self-reflection in the future. You have a terrible tendancy towards utterly undue praise for Obama and his policies that differ from Bush by the merest change in rhetoric. I’m being generous too.

Also, can I get any support that whatever wage is paid to Dickinson we transfer to Taibbi as general monetary encouragement and optionally to take on Tim’s role as National Affairs blogger?

Excellent work as usual Matt. Less foul language which made it more pleasurable to read.
I liked the Melon with a ribbon tossed off the 50th floor imagery. That’s truly what it is.

I remember Bill Mayer said on his show that the only way to restore confidence in the banking system in this country is to execute a couple of these wall street bankers. He makes a good point because these guys will continue to wreak havoc with the economy because they fear no consequencees for their actions.

While Matt’s story is fundamentally correct it is not addressing the real instigator.
Sure banks like Goldman are knowing and willing participants but their activities result from an expansion of the money supply and that is controlled by the Fed.
Read ” The Creature From Jekyll Island ” and you’ll find that this latest GFC is something that has been going on for centuries, each time with the same consequences

If it needed any proof that Matt Taibbi got it spot-on, Goldman’s unnerved response provides ample.
Taibbi obviously caught them off-guard, dulled by their belief in their untouchable almightiness.

Time for a couple of class action cases to be brought. Tell the reward sharing law firms that got billions out of tobacco.
Or any group of law firms up to the task and imaginative enough to figure out the size of the reward. Its time, GS experience the powers of capitalism – fueling investigative efforts at the opposite courtroom bench. Matt Taibbi has delivered tide-shifting, landmark journalism.

the financial industry is ripping off all of us republicans, democrats, babies, little old ladies, … can’t you see that? who cares about political parties at this point? it should be about righting the ship. we’ve been f#ked for quite some time now. divide and conquer is an old strategy – stop it!

Excellent article. The two parties are equally guilty of playing the GS game. The political system in America has evolved into nothing more than a shell game. The elections only exist to placate the American public into thinking they are electing the President. The real manipulators of the economy, and the country are the ones that hold the purse strings. The “Goldman Sachs”.

Wow. I had no idea about what was going on. I really can’t believe that the gas crisis was fueled in large part by these guys. This really helped open my eyes and hopefully people will realize what’s happening with their money behind the scenes.

Just heard today that Goldman Sachs might provision $20 Bn for 2009 bonus. If it’s true it will confirm my favorite sentence from the article “organized greed always defeats organized democracy

sorry it’s “disorganized democracy”!

Return to the dark ages when the general public was to believe the world was flat and that any challenge to authority would mean assured death. Now we are to believe that we are playing on level playing field as we invest our life savings thinking that we have an equal chance at wealth. What a stacked deck we have against us when you find out the government has sold us out TO BIG BUSINESS! How do we get it back.

Hat’s off to Matt Taibbi! I always knew the wall street scene was a gamble…but the odds are better in vegas. No more brokerage house accounts, back to putting it under the mattress. I put my faith in capitalism and entrepreneurship and lost everything with this recession. Now I know why. Talk about manipulation: manipulate the gas prices to force Detroit to make
fuel efficient cars and then lower the price of gas. and we thought it was all the unions fault. We absolutely need to take our country back! Great job, Matt. Keep up the good work.