Blowing the whistle on Goldman Sachs: Wall Street 2.0 ; Yet Another Tale of Malfeasance , High Crimes & Tawdry misdemeanors.
First , Id like to set the record straight .
Comparisons of Goldman Sachs, specifically its Business tactics & the executive staff who implements it , - to Darth Vader, are greatly exaggerated.
I pity the poor soul who penned this misguided, libelous metaphor. Elevating Goldman to
the pinnacle of corpulent Evil -as Vader exquisitely Represented, distinctly and unequivocally lacks merit, or any basis in Fact. This is Defamation and Libel pure and simple.
{An alternative explanation , one just a bit less naive, would have
the sly bad boys at Goldman penning the comparison themselves.
A page undoubtedly potentially stolen from Michael Orvit's PR playbook, but - effective and -Brilliant , none the less.
Who doesn't want to do business with Vader? ... he always made money for his partners, - until his mask came off , & .. well, we all know how it turned out.}
The unmitigated Evil that Vader was so purely emblematic of, was in a word - Profound. Primordial.
When we think of the Abyss- this is it.
It was a Profound Dark Power. The type that Human History -turned on. It is the kind of Evil that has given rise to eons of bone scraping, hair on end , wanton Terror & Destruction. Its goal: Waste & Decay.
In a Word: Hell.
Bone-Chilling Destruction, Numbing Decay, Profound injustice, incomprehensible suffering. Millennia of Wanton destruction and waste. This is the practical result of Evil at this magnitude.
This was Vader and what he Represented.
This is the -Dark Side.
Additionally, The Evil that Darth Vader Exemplified wasnt simply a construct of overt terror & destruction, it was also- insidious. It was fed by the Yin and Yang of our Being.
Those at Goldman Sachs, including anyone else participating in similar unethical and socially destructive practices that have been so poignantly outlined & described by the departing Mr. and countless others, are nothing remotely like Vader. They are not of - Like Kind.
Goldman, - in its petty Greed, Base motives, Malfeasance, larceny, misguided goals, Bizarre disconnected
Hubris ...this is the stuff of street Punks, not Bone chilling, spine twisting, history shifting- Evil.
Cheap and dirty. - this is where it begins & ends. This isnt an Historically significant immersion into & compact with the "Dark Side"- threatening the fabric of Civilization. This is just the craven, misguided behavior of -street punks, with a lot of cash in their pockets. It represents nothing more than the commensurate "soft" power & the high degree of status and privilege that accompanies anyone possessing a significant amount of Cash or the pretense of , in most social constructs on our planet today. ..in other words, its a failure of Spirit & Ethics, & -Character. Its a total failure of our Society to Educate. To LEAD our children to What is specifically Good and True in LIfe. Its a total Societal Failure of ... -Up-bringing.
Behavior of this sort is
not worthy of our attention. It doesnt even merit pause, - except in one regard.
We collectively need to be keenly aware of, and note the insidious and destructive effect that the sum total of this sort of nefarious behavior has on our Society at large.
The malfeasance doesnt exist within a closed loop. Behavior of this sort- influences. It engenders adherents. By creating Heroes & of Punks and Miscreants, as a society we are actively Fostering a Model for others
to replicate. The Street punks, the Darth Vader Wannabes ....they drive 100,000 Beautiful Black Cars with
Black leather interiors. They live in MultiMillion dollar apartments. They have Drivers available 24/7. They Marry Beautiful Women, they age, Then they marry even prettier women.
Their second homes are in the Hamptons. Their Third homes are in Aspen. They dine in the best restaurants-
every day. And.... more , they are held in Honor & the highest Esteem. It matters not how the Cash was Made. Where the Cash came from.
All that matters is that one- has it. And to these persons- go the spoils of Caesar.
This is all quite good - until it isnt.
We cannot build a productive, Competitive, Sustainable, Republic on Greed, and the Values & overt Behavior of Miscreants. It just simply doesnt work. Case in Point - 2012: Our Republic in Crisis.
See E. Gibbons " Fall of the Roman Empire", Churchill on Decline of Empire, etal.
To those of you who hold Dear Free Market Enterprise Capitalism:
Whether the partners or clients make or loose money - isnt the point.
In Fact- making money- "the old Fashioned Way" - is applauded and supported at every turn by yours truly, and may i point out,
by nearly every other person on the face of the earth today. This is the capitalism that all sides of the aisle, people from all walks of life - get fuzzy about, ...love and adore.
Have money. Risk Cash. Hopefully - create something of worth in the process, and if all goes well ... multiply Money. -More power to you.
As long as risk remains -in house, all fallout, that is, -repercussions- of loss, are limited to the specific individuals & institutions assuming the risk, and one's actions possesses a modicum of -integrity ( my personal standard vs a Formal Economic one) -Bravo.
Risk, Innovate, Create, Be, Do, Enable, Build, Create, Engineer, Design, & Risk - till your teeth drop out.
Be Steve Jobs. Be Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg. Be a driver of innovation, creativity, good design, important inventions, paradigmatic shifts in knowledge -Administration, manufacturing and engineering practices. Build Las Vegas. Engage. Do. Create . Be.
But do So with one caveat. You must do it within the bounds of the law & Regulation,
and withing the principles of the Economics of capital formation and Free market Enterprise.
You cannot take risks with other peoples money, loose that money , and pay yourself a salary and a bonus.
You cannot risk your own money and position, loose that money, and displace the loss onto Society at large.
This isnt Rocket science Boys.
The so- called geniuses who like to refer to themselves as the "Masters of the Universe"
The hedge fund managers, and Fund mangers, and Quandts , and Executives who populate Banking and Finance,
& Corporate America - like to think of themselves as -Exceptional.
Given this incredible pool Of Exceptionalism, - there should be no trouble in parsing this simple equation.
If you want to Risk money, time , Resources, - you, that is A -idiosyncratic, individual, quaint singularity-
You, assume the Responsibility for doing so.
Your Risk - Never becomes my Risk. If We want to change the rules of Free Market Capitalism , if we want to change the Fundamental precepts of our Political Economy, then we need to do it as a -Society.
We need to codify it in Law & Regulation and Precedent, and Practice.
And we need to call it what it is.
Socialistic Commercial Enterprise. Free Reward and Socially Distributed Risk. or maybe something simpler
-Crony Capitalism.
Capitalism for the well placed, of the well placed, by the well placed- with a socially distributed Risk Model.
The specific actions in our Economy - ..the whole of our polity, -have a specific gravity in Being. These actions exists within the -Whole and have specific impact on our Collective Life.
This has nothing to do with capitalism , Free Markets, Financial creativity, providing a so called
" critical level of liquidity and capital to the economy" , . this isnt about Enterprise activity and its relationship to jobs, .bla bla bla.
Behavior , whether of individuals, corporate entities or professional partnerships, and -organizations,
Belongs to the -Collective. There is no - isolation. Containment is a chimera.
Unethical Larceny degrades us All.
As to The Wall St. JOurnal's defense of Goldman Sachs- and I am specifically speaking to Holman Jenkins' column of -14 March, 2012
Mr. Jenkins, If you or anyone else in the press are determined to sacrifice journalistic credibility, shamelessly Representing Goldman Sachs' interests and image- at very least , do so with a little grace and rhetorical panache. If you have to fabricate tall tales- Gentlemen & Ladies - Please do it well. Yes, at the very least , use prose that we can admire and ..if you have it in you ... Do it Poetically For Gd sake!
Seriously Holman.
there is no shame in public relations work. If you Choose to
represent and defend a specific Corporate or Institutional point of view- there is nothing shameful in that. Public Relations is a legitimate and respected commercial enterprise.
The practice of Defending a specific interest or point of view under the auspices of Journalist integrity - a practice that is essentially normative in today's media- is in fact, beyond reproach.
Journalism, fronting for Public Relations, is a sin of the highest order. Not simply a sin against every principle, and ethic, high or low Purpose, that Journalism Theoretically & in practice aspires to .....but
a sin against Humanity and everything that we -in this particular society, at this particular moment in history- Still hold near and dear.
Journalism. Pure , unbiased, authentic journalism, is not an elective in a functional Democracy.
It cant work without it. Its that simple. It isnt rocket science.
Geniuses. Masters of the Universe. Pretend Duplicitous Journalist -take note.
Do Gardner's poison the very soil that they grow their peppers, Basil and tomatoes in?
If you undermine the very structure, the footings, the Structural steel, ..the DNA if you will of
our Political Economy- there will be no place for you to grow your tomatoes.
Whether you are in the business of turning cash into cash, or Lending Cash, Seeding Ventures, or Developing &Creating something,
none of this activity will be possible if you undermine the very system in which it takes place.
Not Rocket Science.
Forget the Willful Blindness and Blind Ambition ....or dont forget it , but - adhere to the existing rules of the game.
To those of you who choose to make up your own Rules governing the principles and practices of journalism:
In this most Governmentally - incompetent, inefficient, wasteful, Corrupt, and Bureaucratically
convoluted /twisted moments in Human History, - an informed Polity with an Independent press, - without Agenda- , providing Ethical Competent Oversight of the mechanisms of our Society- is more
important and critical than ever. Yes its Trite, - But, none the less, true.
That our Government - isn't working , That journalism more resembles entertainment, advocacy,
And Public Relations, is not cause for abandoning hope. In other words, abandoning the quest for understanding and Truth, including the courage & persistence to pursue & publish it, is -not an option.
Malfeasance, Unrestrained Greed, & Perversity -may very well be the end of us , but if we are doomed to
the trash heap of Great Republics & Empires- let history note that it this didnt happen without an Heroic effort to prevent it. Its not in our Character , its not the American Character, to be waltzed like sheep into the pen for Slaughter without putting up a fight. It certainly isnt in our Character to be Waltzed into the Slaughter house by Street Punks & Miscreants. There is a Tragic model for just that in our recent history, and Germany will pay the price for it for Millenia come. If we must Terminate this Republic ignobly, .... in disgrace, let it pass through the sword and shield of Truth, justice and dignity.
Speaking of History -there is Something else that needs to pointed out.
World War I Began in 1914 and Ended in 1918.
We are less than 100 years from the -onset- of what began the most tumultous, destructive, creative, tragic, mind-blowing evolutionary Hundred years of human history.
Nothing is set in stone. Nothing is immobile. That is - no ideology, political philosophy, form of government,
norm, moral constraint, political economy, geoPolitical reality , technology, scientific truism...is immobile.
In a heart beat, the world that we know can be turned quite upside down. We cannot take anything for Granted.
More , we cannot take our Values, The Good , as the ancient Greeks understood their world view, -for Granted.
Nothing just is. And Nothing certainly just - will be.
The most interesting moment(s) in internal Chinese Politics in the past two decades have just taken place
in the past few weeks. The coming Change in leadership is turning into the best Suspense Narrative on the
planet. Something Earth moving just came out of the Middle Kingdom and - barely anyone in the W.
rose from their complacency. The normally reticent Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao- on 14 March -
Warned in a speech that "unless the Governing Communist Party overhauled its leadership structure and
cleared the way for economic reform - the nation risked the chaos of the Cultural Revolution .
Earth Shaking ..& Prescient.
I speak directly to Wall Street, Banking, and the Financial sector in general, in particular.
I also speak to our own Government. That is, Every appointed, elected, and unelected, participant. Beware .
Dysfunction, at the existing magnitude, breath and depth, is simply- unsustainable.
Oddly, this is precisely Wen Jiabao's message is to nearly identical institutions and organizations in china.
The Cultural Revolution is a mere decades away. It is still very alive in their consciousness . It gives Prime Minister Wen Jiabao the direct knowledge that The possibility of total Societal Chaos is a mere- breath away.
Regardless of how talented Mr. Jenkins or any of his colleagues- better truth or -pursuit thereof, be written
in crayon on a sidewalk, than the code of a journalist sacrificed to someone's Agenda, Myth, or Beliefs.
S. Vincent Mastro II
