Blankfein and Goldman’s brass , decided to embark on a social enterprise experimental program by offering about $100 million, per year over five years to the capital starved American small and mid-size enterprises.  The 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative will distribute about $100 million per year over the next five years to SMEs through Community Development Financial Institutions. And then they did the same for 10,000 women….

So in business arithmetic it amounts to about a $10,000 dollars loan each enterprise before we add the women which then brings it down to a $5,000 per woman or man owned enterprise. Now if any of you has done some business knows how far a $5k check goes in American business….. Maybe the cost of the legal fees for a month’s work  to just handle the Goldman usurious arrangement. That’s it. Gone the fiver…

But if the 10,000 small business fund is the best social innovation Goldman Sachs had to offer; they are to follow this with the 10,000 women fund as has been announced.

We fully expect that the 10,000 children fund will follow, then the 10,000 invalids fund, the 10,000 gays fund fast behind and finally the 10,000 vanities…

But let’s not rush ahead of history making Asperger syndrome sufferers’ own intelligent designs for society’s ills.

These Marie Antoinettes – these lords of  the universe and these crack team leaders of the corporate investment bankers of this world; have heard the cries from the despondent masses and decided to act.

They thought hard and decided that the best policy would be to share some cake. 

Or more practically they decided to throw some coins to the beggars. They opened up their petty coin purse to give some alms to the peasants lining the steps of the cathedral begging bowl in hand.

Or was it natural preservation and in their infinite wisdom Blankfein and Co woke up and understood that the real economy needs the peasants and the poor alive and licking the hand that feeds them.

They realized that to avoid social unrest they must give something… albeit as little as possible but still something.

They want to give a bit of cash to prime the pump. A little capital here and there to resuscitate and incubate the critical SME segment as an absolute prerequisite to a vibrant economic recovery.    The buzz about this news as philanthropy is wrong. It is in the marketplace where the reaction, played out – ranging from cynical suspicion at one extreme to puzzled bemusement and  ecstatic aplomb at the other with the anarchist crying out for the bankers heads and stripes.

What motivated Goldman to announce this initiative is an interesting question.  Was it guilt, greed or a sense of corporate social responsibility?  Some suggest it is a master PR move to counter a growing public perception that Goldman Sachs,  the poster child of greed, avarice and sloth and probably all the other dreadful sins, along with the biggest one of them all; that of raiding the public purse.

The exceptional government favoritism and bailout largess,  from none other than their very own ex-chairman Paulson; reminds one of the Oil men leveraging the White House in the Bush-Chenney years to line their pockets. Now with Paulson in the Treasury, giving to his colleagues came naturally as came the turn of the Bankers to use the public lever to save themselves while stealing the public wealth.  Geithner tried to stem this tide, because make no mistake this is Raiders of the Universe stealing the public purse in the largest transfer of wealth – history has ever seen. 

All the while You were chanting:  YES WE CAN

Yes we can…

Yes they DID.  

The DID raid the public purse and took the coin of the realm for their own.  

Revolutions started with a lot less and the Guillotine was primed well – with the fools heads who didn’t heed History’s lessons.

Clearly and brazenly Goldman has leveraged its unfair and government (our Commons) advantage to achieve historic levels of profitability, and enable the management to pay obscene bonuses to themselves and a handful of the company’s top echelon employees. The golden busy bees. Those crack teams of finance, the rainmakers and the nectar drinkers. The crackers…

The Goldman leaders don’t need to worry for money ever again. Never for the next seven generations of their family need they care for working. They are set for 7 lives. Like the cats.

What kind of incentive is that?

Why would they care to work hard after that ever again?  Fat cats don’t chase mice…

Maybe that’s fashionable environmental thinking for you. Seven generations ahead provision for wealth preservation. Fools…

In my book incentive means: Stay lean – stay hungry – catch the …. gift mice.

But then again, capital has no psyche,  and half a billion dollars is a small bill to underwrite absolution of such gigantic scale for their form of persistent guilt.  True to its nature, capital always  seeks a place where it will find its greatest return. 

What Goldman and Buffett are doing is simply casting some oil and bread in the waters of a distressed economy. 

Its wise to ascribe the best intentions and virtuous motivations to actions that we may not fully understand.  But is wiser to seek to understand these action fully, especially if they are to affect society at large.

This 10,000 something funny, guilt-fund program should be viewed as an event in the history of PR, marketing, branding, corporate social responsibility, corporate hubris, and social entrepreneurship.  Its important to understand that institutions that practice corporate social responsibility do not engage in it, solely as a philanthropic  endeavor.  Indeed, the benefits of good corporate citizenship pays multidimensional dividends.  All ultimately accrue to the benefit of company shareholders and the larger community of corporate stakeholders.

Goldmans move to prime the pump of capital formation initiative for SMEs seeks to mitigate macroeconomic risk factors that are prolonging the recession and pressuring Goldman’s business.   Goldman needs a vibrant US economy if it is to sustain its profitability,  long term growth and global competitiveness.  Goldman needs a strong regional and local banking sector to support its securitization, investment banking and corporate finance business units.   Healthy SMEs are a critical component to a healthy commercial banking sector. 

Goldman recent charter as an FDIC bank holding company may also be a factor to consider. They were insured by the government to survive during the floods; they were insured by the government to make their acquisitions during the bust and now they are insured to continue this job… of being the T-Rex of the jungle. 

Well there is a place for T-Rex but please, watch out for these pesky asteroids – please.  Fossilized bones abound in the natural history museums…

Sadly, there are no fossils left of the dinosaur enablers, so we don’t know exactly what they looked like – except that they belonged in the bureaucratic trilobites family, with small wire rimmed glasses.

But even this half billion pittance of an SME lending initiative – will provide interesting insights into the dynamics of a local bank market space and potential lines of business that are relatively new to Goldman Sachs.  This fake philanthropy initiative might  just be an entry for  a slate of community banks asset acquisition program.  The community banking sector is plagued with over capacity, underperformance and  is in dire need of consolidation. 

Goldman’s  crack team of corporate finance and M&A professionals expertise would be put to good use here. Provided they don’t smoke their crack overly too much. Or at least the community doesn’t find out. The peasants might revolt as they know both the smell of crack and the smell of BS. The people on the bazaar and on the market street are far more savvy than the Raiders of the government purse would ever give them credit for.

Goldman’s action to micro-finance SMEs will also serve to incubate a new class of High Net Worth (HNWs) investors. You gotta  love these acronyms. HNWs much like SUVs will be  flush with cash from successful entrepreneurial endeavors, – or so the Goldman’s reasoning goes – the nouveau-riche will be eager to deploy their excess cash and dormant capital into equities and bonds, hedge funds and private equity partnerships. 

In some communities like Detroit’s east and NY and LA and the rest of middle America the only ones with the cash will be the other masters of the Universe – the drug dealers. The only ones with cash in America today – except the Goldman bankers that is. So a healthy equity markets and a growing Alternative Investment Management  market is key to a healthy Goldman local street banking business. This alternative investment management franchise and the enfranchisment of the ones who need to launder capital fast will prove to be a new boon for the investors. A new line of business for Goldman Sachs that completes the circle of the purveyors of the American dream to the actual producers of the pipe dream.

Crack teams all around abound – but none more so than the bursting balloon of  greed that Goldman represents.

The real heroes – community banks, principal lenders to SMEs are  still reeling from the credit crisis and are deeply concerned about the troubled assets on their balance sheets.  They are the Bankers who know their neighborhood and their people and the real risk profiles. They now can’t afford more write downs on non-performing loans and remain highly risk adverse to credit default exposures but they want to support their community’s dreams.  

Unfortunately due to lack of support, these local banks have responded to the ongoing crisis, by drastically reducing credit to SMEs and by curtailing new lending activity.  The strain of a two-year recession and limited credit access has been in turn, taking its toll on the very SMEs that fuel the American dream of a perpetual growth economy.  The recession has hurt sales growth across all market segments causing SMEs to layoff employees or shut down driving unemployment rates ever higher. 

Yet Goldman claims that they want to access this sector for profits. And these sector would boost Goldman’s securitization and restructuring advisory businesses positioning it to deepen its participation in the PPIP and TALF programs. Whom are they kidding?  

Maybe the Treasury department?

The financial condition of commercial and regional banks is expected to remain stressed for the foreseeable future.  Community banks have large credit exposures to SME and local commercial real estate.  Consumer credit woes and high unemployment rates will generate continued losses from credit cards and auto loans.  Losses from commercial real estate loans due to high vacancy rates are expected to create significant losses for the sector.

Reduced revenue, protracted softness in the business cycle and closed credit channels are creating perfect storm conditions for SME’s. Bank’s reluctance to lend and the high cost of capital from other alternative credit channels coupled with weak cash flows from declining sales are creating liquidity problems for many SMEs.   Its a growing contagion of financial distress. 

In all likelihood, the reality of this contagion would infect Goldman and in turn would have a profound impact on the company’s financial health. So they don’t really want it right?

 The 10,000 Businesses something or other guilt-fund initiative is just that.

No two ways about it. Maybe it will strengthen the free flow of investment capital to finance national economic development and empower SMEs and then maybe it will be another black hole.  If it strengthens free market capitalism with the potential to pool, unleash and focus investment capital into a strategic market segment that has no access to public equity and curtailed lines of traditional bank credit,(as the Goldman’s PR machine says) is questionable. At least its main supposition, is completely unsupported by the evidence at hand.

The 10,000 guilt-fund for Businesses initiative  will ideally encourage wider participation by the banking and private equity funds but don’t really count on it. Nobody wants to go to bed with GS in a deal as a minority. In the aggregate, this will help to achieve GS strategic objectives, build wealth and realize broader goals to assure sustainable growth and global competitiveness. Or not.

One thing is for certain:

All of this is to the benefit Goldman Sachs’ shareholders and its global investment banking franchise squib.  

Guilt Free

Conscious Free.

Drug Free.

Triple X. Trifecta for GS again. Or maybe not so…

Certainly the last one isn’t true.

Let’s replace that with Ethics free.

Yours,

Pano D Kroko

PS: I suggest Blankfein goes back to his thinking space and sharpens his pencils and comes up with something really giving back to the Republic what they really owe to give. 

Otherwise not only He isn’t a proper leader – but he is not intelligent enough to read the writing on the wall.

PS: Right around the end of the 18th century the French devised a good method for capping bankers and others’  pay…

PS2: To understand the causes of the Guilt-in or more popularly known as guillotine, see bellow the causes of the French Revolution:

”Adherents of most historical models identify many of the same features of the Ancien Régime as being among the causes of the Revolution. Economic factors included widespread famine and malnutrition, due to rising bread prices from a normal 8 sous for a 4-pound loaf to 12 sous by the end of 1789, which increased the likelihood of disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments of the population in the months immediately before the Revolution. The famine extended even to other parts of Europe, and was not helped by a poor transportation infrastructure for bulk foods. The Environment was a key factor in it then as it is now. Recent research has attributed the widespread famine to an influence of the El Niño effect following the 1783 Laki eruption in Iceland, or colder climate of the Little Ice Age combined with France’s failure to adopt the potato as a staple crop, and the financial elite raiding the Treasury for the benefit of the courtiers, the Queen, the King and themselves.

Another cause was the fact that Louis XV fought many wars, bringing France to the verge of bankruptcy, and Louis XVI supported the colonists during the American Revolution, exacerbating the precarious financial condition of the government. The national debt amounted to almost two billion livres. The product of war is always penury of the Chancellor. The additional social burdens caused by the war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy’s military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans or for any of the poor classes. The corrupt, inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation and rewards. Another cause was the continued conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, despite the financial burden on the populace. High unemployment and high bread prices caused more money to be spent on food and less in other areas of the economy. The Roman Catholic Church, the largest landowner in the country, levied a tax on crops known as the dime or tithe. While the dîme lessened the severity of the monarchy’s tax increases, it worsened the plight of the poorest who faced a daily struggle with malnutrition. There was too little internal trade and too many customs barriers.

There were also social and political factors, many of which involved resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals. These included resentment of royal absolutism; resentment by the ambitious professional and mercantile classes towards noble privileges and dominance in public life, as many of these classes were familiar with the lives of their peers in commercial cities in the Netherlands and Great Britain; resentment by peasants, wage-earners, and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by nobles; resentment of clerical advantage (anti-clericalism) and aspirations for freedom of religion, resentment of aristocratic bishops by the poorer rural clergy, continued hatred for Catholic control, and influence on institutions of all kinds by the large Protestant minorities; aspirations for liberty and especially as the Revolution progressed republicanism; and anger towards the King.

Any similarities with real or existing persons, corporate leaders or kings of finance, fictional  banker-wanker remonstrations of innocence, national states or corporations and banks present or past; any similarities with persons and events and even attributes; are purely accidental, coincidental and unintended. After all this is a work of humour and fiction much like the 10,000 something headless or brainless or other benefit for the community… out of the wankers largesse.

Well, news just in…

An Indian in the Forbes list of World’s 10 Most Outrageous CEOs as The Mint newspaper reports here, and The Hindu reports here.

Good ol’ Ramalinga Raju. He surely has created a legacy….

NEW YORK (AP) — Despite a likely end-of-year slowdown in fixed-income trading, Goldman Sachs will top Wall Street expectations by cutting the percentage of sales it sets aside as compensation, an analyst said Monday.

Analyst Brad Hintz also added that the seasonal slowdown doesn’t signal that the bank’s ability to profit from a recovery in credit markets has ended.

Nashville business calendarAhead of the Bell: Willbros Group upgraded (AP)

Whew! It’s been a long week for the Fed (and for me, hence the Saturday night post on this) but one thing is clear: this SIGTARP audit of the Fed’s questionable-at-best priorities in bailing out AIG counter parties is a sweet read. And the best part is,  anyone can read it – and indeed, almost anyone should – as it is the most accessible and succinct account of the whole affair I’ve read yet. Yes, another gushing account of SIGTARP and Neil Barofsky, but really, I just love what his office is doing for accountability and transparency and hope business media is taking notes (I am.)

At the core of the audit is the question of why the Fed seemingly rushed to pay AIG counter parties – yeah, yeah, Goldman, Merril, Deutsche, and the like – “effectively par value” for busted credit default swaps. According to the report, “effectively par value” looks like this:

Table 2: Total Payments to AIG Credit Default Swap Counter Parties (in billions)

Source: SIGTARP analysis of AIG and FRBNY data
* Amount rounded down to $0.** In addition to the $27.1 billion in payments to the counterparties, AIGFP received a payment of $2.5 billion as an adjustment payment to reflect overcollateralization.

The best thing about blogging on this report a few days out is to see the media response. NYT has taken a fairly aggressive approach with somewhat familiar criticism of the banks, though as the SIGTARP audit points out, Fed officials themselves have acknowledged “the greatest leverage that FRBNY might have had – the threat of default and an associated AIG bankruptcy – was effectively removed by FRBNY’s intervention in September, an intervention that the counterparties understood to mean that the U.S. government would not permit an AIG failure.” There was no (financial) reason to realize a loss, and the banks knew it.

On the other side, there is an interesting approach from Atlantic online pseudonymous blogger “Anal-yst” who slams NYT for “rank speculation and utterly horrific summation” of the SIGTARP audit and wonders aloud why “Government (Treasury, Fed) officials failed to embrace their duty to the American people with hasty, and not particularly well-thought-out decision-making.” For anyone who appreciates a touch of nuance on the oh wicked Wall Street route – even if Goldman’s recent stint in the holy land makes this a particularly easy route to take – it is a well crafted opinion worth checking out.

More to come on this…

AND: You know the Fed’s having a bad week when Ron Paul is (actually) gaining on you …

The swine flu vaccine has been in short supply nationwide because of manufacturing delays, resulting in long lines at clinics and patients being turned away at doctor’s offices.

Goldman and Citi have the H1N1 flu vaccine amid a shortage.

Wall Street bankers once again are the target of populist outrage, this time over the news that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and others are receiving limited doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

Following a story on BusinessWeek.com, and its subsequent pickup on NBC’s Today Show and other media outlets, politicians, lobbyists, and bloggers launched blistering attacks against New York City health officials, the White House, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and, of course, the “fat cat bankers” themselves.

Other big New York City employers that have received doses of the vaccine include Columbia University, Time Inc., and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based watchdog, is asking Obama’s Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the CDC approved the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine to Wall Street firms. “In what world do Wall Street employees deserve to be vaccinated ahead of high-risk children, pregnant women, and health-care workers?” said executive director Melanie Sloan in a statement on Nov. 5. “Unfortunately, for the thousands being turned away in clinics across America, the CDC has decided to prioritize the millionaires over the masses.“

Representative Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also criticized the Obama Administration’s distribution approach. “While many Missourians are still at risk, Wall Street bankers are at the head of the line for H1N1 vaccine,” said Blunt

Calgary Hockey Team And Players’ Families Privately Received H1N1 Vaccinations

An unidentified Alberta health care worker who allowed the Calgary Flames hockey team and players’ families to privately receive H1N1 vaccinations last week has been fired, Alberta Health Services announced this afternoon.

“The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment on the part of the staff involved,” Stephen Duckett, who is president and chief executive officer of the board that governs health delivery in the province, said in a statement.

Is Goldman’s Gesture Charitable enough? NY Times http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/is-goldmans-charitable-gesture-enough/

Los líderes de la tv y famosos se manifiestan en contra de la inseguridad y millones de personas los escuchan. ¿Aportan algo o generan más confusión?

En Argentina es de público conocimiento que desde hace un tiempo los líderes de la pantalla como Marcelo Tinelli, Susana Giménez y Mirtha Legrand (si bien no tiene mucho rating pero su opinión es muy oída) muestran su preocupación por el tema de la inseguridad en Argentina. A ellos se le suman los famosos que recientemente sufrieron situaciones violentas, como la actriz y conductora Georgina Barbarrosa o el diseñador Roberto Piazza. Ni hablar de las soluciones concretas que muestran personas como el cantante Cacho Castaña al decir que “hay que ponerlos en un paredón y fusilarlos a todos”, o cosas similares.

Represión, mano dura, bajar la ininputabilidad de los menores y militares en las calles son algunas de las propuestas. Ni hablar de quienes mencionan a los derechos humanos que parecen proteger más a los delincuentes que a las víctimas.

Los medios hacen su parte: muestran 24 horas de robos, asaltos, miseria y paco.

Es cierto. Los niveles de inseguridad en Argentina son altísimos y eso no lo puede negar nadie.  Y está bien que, quienes tienen la posibilidad de expresarse ante su público, así lo hagan. Pero el problema está en el mensaje.

En este país siempre estamos preocupados por encontrar una solución rápida y nunca elaboramos verdaderos cambios que logren establecerse durante mucho tiempo. La ansiedad de la gente lleva a buscar pequeños parches ante los conflictos. Parches que solo sirven en un corto plazo, y que no logran solucionar los temas de raíz. Estamos acostumbrados al “lo atamos con alambre”: tapamos baches con tierra, agregamos un policía en la esquina durante 15 días, tapiamos las ventanas de las escuelas con melamina o ponemos un camión cisterna con agua en la vereda. Parches, son solo parches. Ante el conflicto de la inseguridad nos planteamos “sacar el ejército a las calles”, “cambiar las leyes para que pueda ir preso un chico de 15 años” o armarse. ¿Pero sabés lo que pasa con eso? El ejército no está preparado para ser diplomático y en pocos días se tornaría un cáncer difícil de extirpar, si bajas la ley de ininputabilidad los que van a salir a robar tendrán 10 años y si te comprás un arma probablemente se dispare un hijo o nieto y hasta te la roben para seguir delinquiendo. No sirve.

Cuando las cámaras se ven seducidas por aquella esposa que llora desconsoladamente por el robo y asesinato de su marido mientras pide cadena de muerte a quienes lo realizaron, es comprensible. No se puede pedir raz0namiento a la víctima o a los familiares de la misma. No se puede solucionar el problema desde ese paradigma. Hay que verlo desde arriba, con mayor ángulo de visión. Y para eso están los tres poderes, no la víctima.

Y cuando salen los famosos a manifestarse de esa manera no se dan cuenta (salvo algunos que lo hacen adrede) que fomentan esa furia de la víctima y no aportan el mensaje que realmente hay que transmitirle a la gente. Nuestro país necesita refundarse. Corregir todos los lineamientos que tanto daño han hecho a este país. Los chicos de la calle no se desarrollaron en un estado físico-mental normal hasta que un día se volvieron locos, tomaron un arma y salieron a robar “jugados” (en la jerga Argentina: que no les importa nada, matar o morir).

El chico de 14 años que apuntó con un fierro a su víctima que estaba ingresando a su casa acaba de ser mandado por un delincuente que le da paco, esa mierda de veneno que primero se la dan gratis y luego se las cobran con “trabajos”. Ese chico nació en una casa de chapas, con una familia cuya madre lava ropa para otras casas, su padre es un desempleado desde hace 15 años que se hizo alcohólico y que en su estado de depresión constante muele a palos a la hermanita menor del niño (cuando no abusa de ella), mientras que sus siete hermanos mayores se drogan con los chicos de la villa en la esquina con el paco que un enviado de político regala. La escuela ya quedó en el pasado y lo único que interesa es alejarse de la mierda de hogar que tiene y juntarse con sus amigos “por obligación”, que contentos le muestran sus zapatillas con una pipa y lo sermonean diciéndole que la consiguieron laburando para “el de la esquina”.

Esto no pasó de la noche a la mañana. Hay culpables. Culpables que en estos últimos 40 años lograron entregar con moño a un país que supo alguna vez de clase media, aquella cuyo padre llegaba del trabajo y le preguntaba a los chicos cómo le fue en la escuela y a su mujer si le gustaría ir al cine el viernes. El país fue destruido sistemáticamente y esto es lo que quedó: un 50% de habitantes de los cuales una generación desconoce por completo lo que es la escuela y el trabajo y otra apenas lo recuerda. Al hombre de clase media le quitaron el trabajo, lo encerraron en una villa que oficia de gueto, le eliminaron toda esperanza y sueño posible, le lavaron el cerebro y lo transformaron en una fábrica de hacer delincuentes dentro de un caldo de cultivo.

Esos zombies son hijos de los militares, políticos (Martínez de Hoz, Cavallo, Menem, etc.) y empresarios (Rockefeller, Morgan, Goldman, etc.) que cumplieron con su objetivo. Hoy los controlan con planes trabajar y drogas muy económicas.

Por ahí deberían comenzar a hablar. Por el origen del conflicto. Saber cómo llegamos a esto no nos garantiza que no lo volvamos a repetir, pero si nos volverá responsables. Hoy nos hacemos los boludos, pero ese tiempo se acabó. Es momento de hacernos cargo de las malas elecciones y abrir los ojos.

Aquellos quienes la pasaron bomba en el virtual “1 a 1″ y se la pasaron viajando hasta el punto de ser Miami la casita de fin de semana, hoy deberían mirarse al espejo y al menos reflexionar. Y aquellos mediáticos que hablan de la inseguridad, deberían ayudar a pensar a la gente o seguir mostrando culos, pero no seguir alimentando la ira de la opinión pública.

Via Ritholtz. He calls it the Lloyd’s prayer.

THE LLOYD’s Prayer
Our Chairman,
Who Art At Goldman,
Blankfein Be Thy Name.
The Rally’s Come. God’s Work Be Done
On Earth As There’s No Fear Of Correction.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Gains,
And Bankrupt Our Competitors
As You Taught Lehman and Bear Their Lessons.
And Bring Us Not Under Indictment.
For Thine Is The Treasury,
The House And The Senate
Forever and Ever.
Goldman.

Finanzmärkte

FAZ, 16. Oktober 2009 Die Banken weltweit nutzen ihre Lizenzen zum Gelddrucken, die sich aus außerordentlich tiefen Zinsen, generösen Refinanzierungsbedingungen, gelockerten Bilanzierungsregeln, ausbleibenden Restriktionen von Regulierungsseite, Staatsgarantien und den aufgrund der extrem asymmetrischen Risikoverteilung boomenden Finanzmärkten ergeben.

Wie das geht, zeigte am Donnerstag die amerikanische Investmentbank Goldman Sachs. Sie finde dank der wirtschaftlichen Erholung zu alter Stärke zurück und verdiene prächtig, heißt es in den Agenturen gemeinhin. Das Geldhaus verbuchte im dritten Quartal nach eigenen Angaben dank starker Ergebnisse im Derivate-Handel und im Anleihe-Geschäft einen Gewinn von 3,03 Milliarden Dollar oder von 5,25 Dollar je Aktie und konnte damit das schwache Vorjahresergebnis mehr als verdreifachen.

Banken gehen weiterhin große Kreditrisiken ein

Jüngst vom Office of the Comptroller of the Currency vorgelegte Zahlen für das zweite Quartal des laufenden Jahres zeigen, wie das möglich ist. Sie machen deutlich, dass die großen Banken ungeachtet allen Geschwätzes über mögliche Regulierungen und Beschränkungen des Risikoappetits, der sich unter anderem aus den ex- oder impliziten Staatsgarantien ableitet, derivative Produkte in Nominalwerten nie zuvor gesehenen Ausmaßes handeln. Dabei sind die Risiken nicht nur hoch konzentriert auf wenige Banken, sondern einzelne Institute reizen ihre Bilanzen auf das Extremste aus.

Gleichzeitig jedoch wurden Zweifel laut, wie lange sich Gewinne in dieser Höhe noch fortsetzen lassen. „Goldman druckt derzeit Geld. Ich frage mich jedoch, ob das ewig anhalten kann“, sagte Keith Davis von Farr Miller & Washington. Ähnlich äußerte sich Peter Jankovskis von Oakbrook Investments: „Es sind zwar echte Gewinne, aber die Frage ist, ob sie sich wiederholen lassen. Handelsgewinne kommen und gehen.“ Goldman hat wegen seiner Ertragssituation bereits milliardenschwere Staatshilfen zurückgezahlt, nützt jedoch weiterhin äußerst günstige Refinanzierungs- und Bilanzierungsmöglichkeiten, regulatorische Ausnahmen im Handelsgeschäft sowie die implizite Staatsgarantie, die vom Finanzministerium immer wieder betont wird.

JPMorgan Chase hatte schon am Mittwoch dank eines florierenden Investmentbankings optisch mit einem milliardenschweren Gewinn überrascht und die Aktienmärkte beflügelt. Der Gewinn stammte zu mehr als der Hälfte aus dem Investmentbanking, das Kreditgeschäft dagegen belastet die Bank weiter schwer.

Die zu den größten Verlierern der Finanzkrise gehörende amerikanische Bank Citigroup ist im dritten Quartal tief in die roten Zahlen gestürzt. Nach nur einem Quartal im Plus verbuchte der Finanzkonzern nun unter dem Strich wieder einen Verlust von 3,2 Milliarden Dollar. Das Kreditgeschäft riss einmal mehr tiefe Löcher in die Bilanz. „Das Umfeld für Verbraucherkredite bleibt hart“, warnte Citigroup- Chef Vikram Pandit. Wegen der steigenden Arbeitslosigkeit können viele amerikanische Bürger ihre Darlehen nicht mehr abstottern. Die Bank musste weitere acht Milliarden Dollar an Krediten abschreiben und ihre Vorsorge um nochmals 800 Millionen Dollar aufstocken.

Diskussion über einen „Staatsstreich“ der Finanzindustrie

Die Citigroup hängt infolge der Finanzkrise weiter massiv am Tropf der amerikanischen Regierung. Im Gegenzug für milliardenschwere Hilfen ist der Staat inzwischen mit rund einem Drittel an der Bank beteiligt. Pandit betonte erneut, dass er wie schon viele Rivalen den Staatseinfluss über die Rückzahlung der Hilfen verringern wolle. Noch aber fehlt dafür das Geld und die Zustimmung der Regierung. Auf das Ergebnis drückten im vergangenen Quartal teure Schritte zur Stärkung der Kapitalbasis und Dividendenzahlungen. Ohne diese Sonderfaktoren hätte es die Bank nach eigenen Angaben knapp ins Plus geschafft.

Die Milliardengewinne bei JPMorgan und Goldman Sachs heizen nicht nur die öffentliche Diskussion über Gehälter und Boni in der Bankenbranche neu an, sondern auch die über den Einfluss der Finanzbranche auf die Regierungsgeschäfte. Sowohl personelle Verflechtungen werden kritisch betrachtet, als auch die enormen Summen, die von einzelnen Banken für Lobbyaktivitäten in Washington ausgegeben werden. Zahlen des Center for Responsive Politics zeigen, dass im vergangenen Jahr einzelne Unternehmen bis zu 14 Millionen Dollar für Lobbyisten ausgegeben haben.

An der Ausgabenspitze steht General Motors, gefolgt von AIG, der Bank of America, Chrysler, der Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, GMAC, American Express, Goldmans Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Wells Fargo und Capital One. Zusammen genommen haben sie im vergangenen Jahr knapp 73 Millionen Dollar in ihre Lobbyisten investiert. Rechnet man diese Investitionen allerdings hoch auf die erhaltene Staatshilfe in Form von TARP-Geldern, so waren die Renditen traumhaft.

Kritische Marktteilnehmer reden angesichts dieser Summen und der von der amerikanischen Regierung eingeschlagenen Strategien zu Gunsten der Banken und der Unternehmen von einem „Staatsstreich“ der Finanzindustrie. Manche zweifeln sogar den volkswirtschaftlichen Nutzen der Branche an. Sollte sich diese Diskussion versteifen, könnte sie doch noch zu einer stärkeren Reglementierung der Branche und zu einer intensiveren Besteuerung führen.

Die in dem Beitrag geäußerte Einschätzung gibt die Meinung des Autors und nicht die der F.A.Z.-Redaktion wieder.

Q: “What’s the difference between God and Lloyd Blankfein?” A: “God does not believe he is Lloyd Blankfein!” (hfk)

Goldman-Sachs-Chef Blankfein

Von Norbert Kuls und Carsten Knop

Lloyd Blankfein

FAZ. 09. November 2009 Der Vorstandsvorsitzende der New Yorker Investmentbank Goldman Sachs, der Amerikaner Lloyd Blankfein, hat ein ganz eigenes Bild von Gott. Riesige Bonuszahlungen und große Profite inmitten der Krise – für die Gesellschaft sei das alles unproblematisch, findet Blankfein. Vielmehr sei das nur ein Zeichen für den Aufschwung der Wirtschaft. Und die Banker, vor allem die von Goldman, würden in Wahrheit Göttliches tun.

Nicht nur für die New Yorker Boulevardzeitung „New York Post“ sind diese Aussagen Blankfeins aus einem Zeitungsinterview ein gefundenes Fressen: In einer Fotomontage bildete sie Lloyd Blankfein mit gefalteten Händen und katholischer Priesterkleidung ab. Überschrift: „Sachs ‚Religious‘“. Direkt übersetzt bedeutet das „religiös“. Aber die Überschrift ist doppeldeutig. „Sachs ‚Religious‘ klingt so ähnlich wie „sacrilegious“ – und das bedeutet „frevlerisch“. Auch in deutschen Internetforen schlug das Zitat am Montag hohe Wellen.

Blankfein hatte der Londoner Zeitung „Sunday Times“, die wie die „New York Post“ zur News Corp. des Medienmoguls Rupert Murdoch gehört, ein Interview gegeben und darin die Rolle der Banken allgemein – und die von Goldman Sachs im Besonderen – gegen das jüngste Trommelfeuer der Kritik verteidigt. Der öffentliche Aufschrei richtet sich ein Jahr nach dem Höhepunkt der Finanzkrise vor allem gegen die neuerlichen Milliardengewinne und die erwarteten Rekordboni bei Goldman. Banken erfüllten einen „gesellschaftlichen Zweck“, wird Blankfein in dem Stück zitiert. Er selbst sei entgegen allen Vorwürfen, er sei ein böser Bonze, der die Öffentlichkeit verhöhnt, nur ein Banker, der „Gottes Arbeit verrichtet“.

Herber Rückschlag in der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Für die Investmentbank, die auch in Frankfurt eine große Dependance hat, darf das getrost als herber Rückschlag in der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit bezeichnet werden, versucht Goldman Sachs doch seit einiger Zeit, seinen in der breiten Öffentlichkeit erheblich angeschlagenen Ruf zu verbessern. Tatsächlich bemühen sich die leitenden Mitarbeiter von Goldman derzeit allenthalben, das Bild vom einzigen großen Gewinner der Finanzkrise zu übertünchen. Sie versuchen nicht nur die wieder hohen Bonuszahlungen, sondern auch das ihnen zugrundeliegende, ausgefeilte Beurteilungssystem zu erklären, das dem Außenstehenden dennoch viele Rätsel aufgibt. Auch die Tatsache, dass Goldman und seine Angestellten für gemeinnützige Zwecke viel Geld spenden und stiften, findet nun offensiver Erwähnung als zu früheren Zeiten. Gleichwohl: Die Bank, die sich in der Finanzkrise durchaus durch eigene Leistung, aber auch mit der Hilfe des amerikanischen Staates sehr viel besser behauptete als ihre Konkurrenten, ist nicht zuletzt wegen der starken Vernetzung ehemaliger Mitarbeiter in der Politik zum Aushängeschild für ungezügelte Gier an der Wall Street geworden. So gibt es kaum einen wichtigen öffentlichen Posten, der in New York oder Washington mit Finanzen zu tun hat und nicht schon einmal mit einem ehemaligen Mitarbeiter von Goldman Sachs besetzt gewesen wäre.

Die jüngsten Rekordgewinne sollten daher kein Anlass zur Kritik, sondern ein Freudenfest sein, weil es ein Beleg für konjunkturellen Aufschwung sei. Und hohe Bonuszahlungen seien eben der gerechte Lohn für den Ehrgeiz der Spitzentalente, für die sich Goldman rühmt. „Ich will nicht ihr Streben begrenzen. Es fällt mir schwer, für eine Obergrenze bei der Entlohnung zu argumentieren“, sagt Blankfein, der in diesem Jahr selbst auf einen Bonus um 20 Millionen Dollar hoffen kann – und im Jahr 2007 insgesamt 68 Millionen Dollar verdient hat, so viel wie noch kein anderer Vorstandsvorsitzender an der New Yorker Wall Street jemals vor ihm. Zudem gehören ihm Aktien von Goldman im Wert von mehr als 500 Millionen Dollar.

ZeroHedge says it best : If There’s Anybody Out There Trading… Anybody… Please. You Are [Not] Alone

What does a stock market rally on no volume tell you? That people are getting scared shitless.

Wouldn’t surprise me if this rally is driven by MarketBot2000 (© Goldman Sachs), while Goldman and a few other select players are using their darkpools to unload stocks at top speed for “subsidized prices”, meaning two ticks under what MarketBot2000 just tagged it for. A stealthy pump-n-dump, maybe? Well, either that, or the tumbleweed on Wall Street is yet another sign of Mr. Bernankes unwillingness to explode the money supply any further.

Now, the bankers has gone not bankers, but bonkers…

They claim:  ‘We do god’s work’

The simple fact that he claims to be doing “gods work”, indicates he may need some tax-funded help of another kind.

Nip over to see for yourselves, as reported in the mail online…

They also defend the stance that their bonuses and other etravagances should be welcomed by the public.

At the same time, the very same public that has been fleeced for a nearly unlimited amount of money to bail out these bankers, and save them from their own highly planned “mistakes”, the very same “mistakes” that they have repeated over and over again, and are gearing up to do yet again, while still recovering, are asking for understanding, and demanding yet more money from the people they abuse.

The way this has been done, begs the question:

Why is it that the banks, as a single industry, can be given what is effectively unlimited state guarantees, subsidies and other forms of backing, when NO OTHER industry or type of business, which is also begging on their bare knees for a bit of support, will get any? How can this NOT BE anti-competitive and a blatant violation of the EU competition laws, especially since the banks actively damages the rest of the business world as well as the people living within it, by its continous actions?

It is as if the bankers live in a parallel universe.

I guess my blog posts has removed my chances of ever getting a job within the banking sector, but would i miss it?
No.  I would like to keep my honor, and to be able to look people in the eyes with a straight face.