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Levin To Ex-Goldman Partner: 'Should Goldman Sachs Be Trying To Sell A Sh--ty Deal?' (VIDEO)
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
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Let the expletives fly.
Moments ago, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) had a swear-laced exchange with former Goldman Sachs partner Daniel Sparks during today's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing. The subcommittee is part of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"Boy," Levin said, reading from an internal June 22, 2007 Goldman email, "that Timberwolf was one shitty deal."
"How much of that shitty deal did you sell to your clients after June 22, 2007?" Levin asked Sparks.
"Mr. Chairman, I don't know the answer to that, but the price would have reflected levels that they wanted to invest in at the time."
Levin: But you didn't tell them you thought it was a shitty deal.Sparks: I didn't say that.
Levin: No. Who did? Your people. Internally. You knew it was a shitty deal and that's what your email shows.
Sparks tried to recast the meaning of that email -- that it was his performance on the deal that wasn't good, rather than the deal itself -- but Levin was having none of it.
Goldman sold hundreds of millions of dollars on that product after the email was sent, Levin said, and selling it was a "top priority."
"Should Goldman Sachs be trying to sell a shitty deal?" Levin demanded. "Can you answer that one yes or no?"
Sparks didn't.
Watch:
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GTFOOH
April 27, 2010 12:24 PM
A shorty deal?
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GTFOOH
April 27, 2010 12:27 PM
I haven't seen this kind of stonewalling by witesses since Jeffry Skilling testified. Goldman Sachs may be able to fillibuster their way through this hearing, but they sure are not making themselves look very competent.
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Rick Jones
April 27, 2010 2:18 PM in reply to GTFOOH
Everybody got so po'd at Mark McGuire for not answering questions about steroid and performance enhancing drugs at that Congressional hearing several years ago, to the point that he is unlikely to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Let's see that same level of outrage here, with these guys who ruined people's financial security while making millions on these shitty deals. Prison time or a lifetime ban from the financial industry would be appropriate.
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SqueakyRat
April 27, 2010 2:58 PM in reply to Rick Jones
OK, no Wall Street Hall of Fame for these guys!! What are you talking about? I want the fucking guillotine for these turds?
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SqueakyRat
April 27, 2010 3:00 PM in reply to SqueakyRat
Yes, yes, I do want the fucking guillotine for 'em! That off that question mark!
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bobosqueakers
April 27, 2010 5:38 PM in reply to SqueakyRat
don't forget S & P and Moody's heads too!
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RuckMaker
April 27, 2010 10:11 PM in reply to bobosqueakers
Let the punishment fit the crime. The sentence for those convicted should be:
1. all personal assets seized (homes, cars, bank accounts, personal possessions ... everything but the clothes they're wearing)
2. forbidden to accept any donations from friends or family members larger than $1.00 per day (including housing, food -- no assistance of any kind allowed)
3. made disabled -- amputated leg, rendered blind, medicated into a state of incapacitating depression, etc. (but just to be fair they get to choose their disability)
4. dropped off at the nearest homeless shelter or at the end of the longest line at a social security office (again, their choice)
5. wished good luck and
6. abandoned into abject poverty
(TV rights to the resulting reality show are now available.)
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FreemanW
April 28, 2010 12:45 AM in reply to bobosqueakers
Put each one of them into a dinghy with a secure, tamper-proof, satellite linked, web camera (so the World can watch), place the dinghy's in the center of the South Pacific, at a separation of 10 nautical mile intervals, during "The Perfect Storm", with bags of chum tied to the hull to insure plenty of sharks in the surrounding water.
If they should drift close to any shore, they are towed back out to the vast expanse of ocean by Coast Guard and the chum bags replenished.
A shitty deal, but hey, someone has to pay.
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chard
April 28, 2010 12:23 AM in reply to SqueakyRat
Guillotine confers a certain dignity.
I say drag them out to the pier and cap 'em.
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oleeb
April 27, 2010 4:02 PM in reply to Rick Jones
Both is better and neither is severe enough.
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AdAbsurdum
April 27, 2010 2:20 PM in reply to GTFOOH
Respectfully, no one, in my view, outperforms Lurita Doan in the art of congressional testimony.
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chameleon
April 28, 2010 3:15 PM in reply to AdAbsurdum
You are so right about that.......what a bitch liar....
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benintn
April 27, 2010 12:34 PM
Reminds me of my grandfather - he used to call the manure spreader "The Congressman"...
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BrianSkuse
April 27, 2010 1:49 PM in reply to benintn
This is really funny !
Insulting Congress is too easy and too often done, but this one is funny.
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mjtrac2
April 27, 2010 12:42 PM
It's great for people to get to see what shits the Ivy League produces.
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JefferyK
April 27, 2010 1:12 PM in reply to mjtrac2
Investment banking is run by the elite, for the elite -- white, male, East Coast boarding school, money, money, money. They will do anything -- ANYTHING -- to protect their social and financial status. When the firm I worked for was called on the carpet for shady deals, the solution proposed by the head of the firm was "Don't write e-mails."
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oleeb
April 27, 2010 4:13 PM in reply to JefferyK
They aren't really elite at all. They're just rich and they use their money to buy the aura of being elite and they use the money to make other people think and believe they're elite by being elitist. But like the corpulent, indolent rich of every age and every empire they're just arrogant, lazy, corrupt, irresponsible rich people. They should all be headed to the gallows! Fuck em!
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JefferyK
April 27, 2010 5:00 PM in reply to oleeb
They are elite in the sense that they grow up in the same enclaves and go to the same prep schools and the same colleges and their parents' friends get them their first finance jobs and then they raise their families in the same neighborhoods and the cycle perpetuates over and over and over. Yes, there are exceptions, but very, very few. Never seen anything like it in any other industry.
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slb
April 27, 2010 8:07 PM in reply to JefferyK
Yes; and they have little or no empathy for those they don't consider to be part of their circle. Especially when it gets in the way of "business".
I know some guys like this. Their background is not elite -- they come from ordinary families out in the sticks -- but they went to an "elite" university, and that gives them the idea they are the cat's pajamas. They're worse about that, in a lot of ways, than others I know who really were born "elite".
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slb
April 27, 2010 7:59 PM in reply to JefferyK
Yep; I think it was another portion of this same testimony that was broadcast on "All Things Considered" this afternoon that when questioned about that "shitty deal" statement, the guy from G-S said, "It's unfortunate that was written in an e-mail." The senator nearly bit his head off.
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CFG in IL
April 27, 2010 2:01 PM in reply to mjtrac2
Perhaps you should take a more nuanced view of the Ivy League,
since they also brought us Barack Obama, not to mention Josh Marshall.
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APeach
April 27, 2010 12:44 PM
I'm listening to this, and I swear, I just wanna slap the witnesses.
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LisB
April 27, 2010 12:47 PM in reply to APeach
Seconded. McCaskill apparently feels the same way. ;)
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Logical_Consideration
April 27, 2010 12:58 PM in reply to APeach
If all you want to do is slap them, then you are a lily-livered, panty-waist.
Where is Robespierre when you need him?
(Joking on both counts. Sort of.)
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human
April 27, 2010 1:55 PM in reply to Logical_Consideration
I was thinking something along the same lines--these guys are lucky they're not living in 18th century France, or they'd already be sans-tete.
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SqueakyRat
April 27, 2010 3:03 PM in reply to Logical_Consideration
I really don't think you need to apologize for bringing up Robespierre. Kill these people.
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SqueakyRat
April 27, 2010 3:22 PM in reply to Logical_Consideration
I really don't think you need to apologize for bringing up Robespierre. Kill these people.
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cwnidog
April 27, 2010 3:31 PM in reply to SqueakyRat
Oooh, I know, after the guillotine lets stick a couple of heads on Wall Street's "Charging Bull" statue. You know, pour encourager les autres.
I'm not sure if I'm kidding or not ...
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mcrose68
April 27, 2010 1:29 PM
Sounds like the floors at Goldman circa 2007 were straight out of The Boiler Room.
In that movie, the traders doing pretty nicely for themselves too.
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_jonny_5_
April 27, 2010 1:37 PM
The headline RE: Finacial Reform should Be...
"Republicans are for giving the American People A Shitty Deal"
or...
"Don't let the Republicans sell You a shitty Deal, Vote Dem This Nov."
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traitorjoe
April 27, 2010 1:51 PM
The only difference between Goldman Sachs and the mobsters in New Jersey who sell worthless penny stocks for several dollars a share over the phone is that Goldman Sachs are located on Wall Street.
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AdAbsurdum
April 27, 2010 2:23 PM in reply to traitorjoe
Indeedy! I'll however add that another difference is the deference they have so far gotten from the SEC.
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human
April 27, 2010 1:59 PM
and these are the people who are so indispensable to Wall Street that they simply can't have their income limited or they might, heaven forbid, leave the company or the industry altogether. How would we ever survive without them?
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JoeTheMechanic
April 27, 2010 2:08 PM
Of course Goldman Sachs sells shitty deals.
Few few American companies produce good products.
The whole economy needs to be changed, not just the finance industry.
Don't know why we couldn't have a bank that is run by the people for the people. If JoetheMechanic was running the ship, customer owned credit unions would be promoted and anti-trust laws would be enforced against the finance oligopoly.
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Demyankee
April 27, 2010 2:23 PM in reply to JoeTheMechanic
Yeah. Funny you should mention it. Credit unions are tightly regulated, and tend to do just fine on the small scale. Of course they are essentially non-profit, or mutually organized, with reasonable control of operating costs (read: executive compensation). What happens to this model as you increase the scale by several orders of magnitude? My sense is that the huge volumes of money sloshing around just invite this flock of Hermes/Gucci-clad scavengers, who become increasingly greedy as they move beyond satisfaction of basic needs.
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Silence
April 27, 2010 2:21 PM
Enjoying the show? How about trading air...it takes shitty deal to a whole new level, with a big red cherry on top. The ultimate scam. Trillions every year.
Chicago Climate Futures Exchange® (CCFE®)
......a wholly owned subsidiary of CCX, is the world’s first and leading environmental derivatives exchange.
CCFE is a CFTC designated contract market offering standardized and cleared futures and options contracts on emission allowances and other environmental products.
CCFE Clearing Firms:
Banc of America Securities LLC
Barclay’s Capital Inc.
BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Fortis Clearing Americas LLC
Goldman Sachs & Co.
JP Morgan Futures Inc.
MF Global Inc.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.
Mizuho Securities USA Inc.
Newedge Financial Inc.
Newedge USA, LLC
Prudential Bache Commodities, LLC
RBC Capital Markets Corporation
R.J. O’Brien and Associates, LLC
Tradelink LLC (self-clearing only)
UBS Securities LLC
http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/images/content/File/Trading_CFIs.pdf
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Stephen Daugherty
April 27, 2010 11:37 PM in reply to Silence
Actually, that's what futures are supposed to be used for: setting the price of uncertain goods, like crops and fuels.
Of course, leave it to Wall Street to take something useful and make something extremely nutso out of it.
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JoeTheMechanic
April 27, 2010 2:35 PM
We tried the Republicans for 8 years. Look at the shitty mess they created.
At least the Democrats are trying to clean it up.
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Silence
April 27, 2010 2:41 PM in reply to JoeTheMechanic
Sure they are. :)
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human
April 27, 2010 2:50 PM in reply to Silence
so what's you're plan, genius? Oh right you don't have one.
"Obama baaaaaaaad! Palin Gooooooood!"
LOL, and you wonder why no one takes you seriously. You and your fellow Alfred E. Neuman Barney share the same single defective brain cell.
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JoeTheMechanic
April 27, 2010 2:49 PM
Here is why the Republicans want to delay: They get more cash.
* April 27, 2010, 7:30 AM ET
Wall Street Rules Help GOP Fill Campaign Coffers
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/04/27/wall-street-rules-help-gop-fill-campaign-coffers/
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Silence
April 27, 2010 3:18 PM in reply to JoeTheMechanic
2008: $994,795 to Barack Obama from................
Goldman Sachs.
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JoeTheMechanic
April 27, 2010 3:24 PM in reply to Silence
Wall Street Rules Help GOP Fill Campaign Coffers
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/04/27/wall-street-rules-help-gop-fill-campaign-coffers/
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skitzo
April 27, 2010 3:24 PM in reply to Silence
Nobody on either side of the aisle turns down unsolicited campaign contributions unless it is from a recognized illegal source. The question is, for any politician, what, if anything, do they provide as the quid pro quo?
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Stephen Daugherty
April 27, 2010 11:33 PM in reply to Silence
Well, it looks like they got
[drumroll please]
A shitty deal!
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DancingBear
April 27, 2010 3:05 PM
One big piece of bullshit here is Sparks trying to defend this because the price reflects what people "want to invest" and such. THE POINT IS THAT THE PRICE DOES NOT REFLECT WHAT PEOPLE WOULD PAY FOR THE PRODUCT IF THERE WAS FULL DISCLOSURE!
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Forrest
April 27, 2010 4:20 PM in reply to DancingBear
But there was full disclosure, otherwise these guys might actually be going to prison.
That full disclosure just came in the form of ridiculously long complicated documents that nobody actually read. Everyone was too busy making money to read the ingredients list on their box of Solid Gold™.
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Stephen Daugherty
April 27, 2010 11:40 PM in reply to DancingBear
eg-fucking-zactly. The whole point of a market is people being able to set prices according to rational criteria. If investors knew what Goldman Sachs were selling them for real, they wouldn't have bought it.
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JoeTheMechanic
April 27, 2010 3:12 PM
They were selling defective shit, AND THEY KNEW IT.
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oleeb
April 27, 2010 4:00 PM
Good for Senator Levin! Finally, a Democrat who talks like an American without mincing any words!
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Silence
April 27, 2010 4:16 PM
Repubs, Dems and the banksters...dirty little peas in a pod. They sure do put on good show.
Wake up and smell the corruption! No one is coming to save you.
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Stephen Daugherty
April 27, 2010 11:41 PM in reply to Silence
all your base
all your base
all your base, are belong to us.
Somebody has set us up the bomb!
What? A serious statement deserves a serious response.
This, not so much.
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greylox
April 27, 2010 4:27 PM
**I don't see Republicans asking the bastards about shitty deals, do you? And Silence? Could we get a little of that from you till you have something worth saying?
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condew
April 27, 2010 5:11 PM
So this is the stuff that Bush era Republicans wanted to sell to Social Security "individual accounts" instead of U.S. Treasury notes?
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John in Houston
April 28, 2010 6:06 AM
The term "shitty deal" is a colorful translation of Yiddish foile shtick, a behind-the-counter phrase from Lower East Side pawn shops. The bigshots at GS are nothing more than cheap grifters.
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AirBoss
April 28, 2010 8:14 AM
Be sure to flush twice.
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AirBoss
April 28, 2010 9:09 AM
Be sure to flush twice.
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Tosh
April 28, 2010 1:10 PM
Of course Goldman Sachs sells shitty deals.
Few few American companies produce good products.
The whole economy needs to be changed, not just the finance industry.
Don't know why we couldn't have a bank that is run by the people for the people. If JoetheMechanic was running the ship, customer owned credit unions would be promoted and anti-trust laws would be enforced against the finance oligopoly.
m65 kamagra
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