Fresh off the wire from Briefing.com,
Goldman Sachs seeks New York Bank Charter - NY Times (111.00 +22.20) -Update-
NY Times reports Goldman Sachs Bank USA is coming to New York. The financial company long known for investment banking has applied for a New York State bank charter, Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Monday. The announcement does not entail a move for Goldman, which has been based in New York City since it was founded in 1869. But it does provide glimpses of Goldman's roadmap as it repaints itself into a commercial bank, as it decided to do when its stock came under siege in September. Goldman's state-charter, if approved, would set it apart from its direct competitors Morgan Stanley (MS), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC). Those banks operate under a national banking charter, allowing them to open branches across states without separate applications. Goldman's decision could indicate that the co is not interested in national consumer-focused business — which will differentiate it from its peers.
Of course Goldman Sachs doesn't want to open a *national consumer-focused* bank!
They only declared themselves a *bank* because they had to.
It was a mandatory loophole they had to jump through on the way to the trough of taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Don't believe me? Read between the lines of the words of its CEO:
"When Goldman Sachs was a private partnership, we made the decision to become a public company, recognizing the need for permanent capital to meet the demands of scale. While accelerated by market sentiment, our decision to be regulated by the Federal Reserve is based on the recognition that such regulation provides its members with full prudential supervision and access to permanent liquidity and funding," said Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.
How about all y'all folks at home?
Have you got access to *permanent liquidity*???
Y'all are aware that former Goldman CEO Hank Paulson ran the firm into virtual bankruptcy (by levering up the balance sheet) and now, as Treasury Secretary he's engineering a taxpayer bailout of his cronies?
Y'all know this disgusting truth, right?
Yeah Goldman rallied huge today - up 22 pts - to $111 per share. BUT last Friday it hit a 5-year low of $74.
So much for the Best of Breed....
6 comments:
I would really, seriously, like someone to explain to me why GS's stock price is not substantially lower given the fact that as a bank holding company their leverage ratio must go from 40:1 (as an IB) down to something like 10:1.
How can future earnings even approach their past performance?
Please enlighten me!
I think in that link I provided they stated their Tier 1 ratio was up to 11%. I am not sure what that precisely means but it may somewhat answer your question.
Future earnings can't approach past performance. This is why investment banks are horrible investments - they make a ton in bull markets but lose five tons in bear markets.
Ever read Atlas Shrugged? I assume you have. If not, you should. Anyway, we are marching down a frighteningly similar path with no sign of slowing down. WTF.
slow-rion: where is Galt's Gulch?
I think the equivalent of the lights of NYC going out will be T-bill rates going so high that the US government will be forced to make hard choices.
Why in the world would the government make hard choices? They can always raise more money from people like you can me!
I read Atlas Shrugged 10 years ago. Would read it again if I had time. I actually tried to read its *under dispute* Wikipedia entry not long ago.
Unfortunately we are on a path toward hyperinflation - AND we have just the crooks for the task!
Skalla,
Could you comment on how that could possibly boost the stock market? I seem to remember you intimating along those lines on Karlgaard's blog.
Post a Comment