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Greg Smith Is My Hero, Bloomberg, Not So Much

There’s a reason Matt Taibbi tagged Goldman with the moniker “Vampire Squid” and it stuck.

3 cheers for Greg Smith. In going public about his now former employer Goldman Sach’s unethical and disgusting behavior his was an act of immense personal courage with no upside for him career wise or otherwise in this world that honors thieves and demeans integrity, and whistleblowers in particular.

As one who raged against the corrupt practices of the financial industry from within for many years, and from outside for the past dozen years, I have only the greatest admiration for Mr. Smith, and for what it took for him to go public with his complaint. It has won him no friends, and it won’t. Rather than honoring him for his courage and integrity, the media coverage already veers toward treating him as a “snitch.” That word is a pejorative for a true hero who speaks out with the truth about immoral, unethical, and even criminal behavior, even though such speaking out is either unpopular or downright dangerous.

The Bloomberg editorial criticizing Mr. Smith plumbs new journalistic lows. But I’m not surprised. Bloomberg is full of scum and whores just like Goldman Sachs. It is another parasitic vampire whore organization that feeds off Wall Street. It’s not a surprise that criticizing heroism comes naturally to them. That’s just my opinion of course. At least it’s an honest one. I find their brand of financial “journalism” shocking in its cynicism and dishonesty, as I have often covered in my posts.

Until there is a public wave of revulsion and remorse for condoning corruption, cheating, and theft at every level and until we have a government and a President willing to do the right thing and prosecute fraud rather than turn a blind eye, and wink and nod with the other one, nothing will change. The criminality and theft will go on and on, rotting our economy and our society at its core.

We, the American people must hold ourselves to account in this evil mess. The root of the problem is our willingness to tolerate immoral and unethical behavior as if it were normal and ok. Until that culture begins to change, we will only sink further and further into the mire.

Lee Adler
The Wall Street Examiner
https://wallstreetexaminer.com

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9 Comments

  1. Jon G

    How severely disturbing, immoral, fallacious and superficial to assert that Goldman (or any other large American institution generally on the right side of the law and even, if not, employing generally good people) is “full of scum and whores.”

    As an honest, hard working, client-focused investment banker at a large, global firm, I take aggressive offense to your bold lie in this regard. I know many, many M&A advisors and IPO professionals at Goldman; all of them, neither scum nor whore.

    Your hasty generalizations, wholesale disregard of journalistic integrity in statements such as yours, and general rudeness are perhaps among the reasons why you have little to no credibility among the educated portion of the professional finance community.

  2. Lee Adler

    Your poor grammar and lack of comprehension would not be surprising coming from a young banker just out of college. As for my hasty generalizations, if you consider 35 years of working in and observing the behavior of those in the financial industry hasty, well then, I guess you know, with all of your “experience.”

    Your argument that the behavior of these people is “legal” both misses and perfectly makes the point. This society has legalized, decriminalized, or decided to ignore immoral, unethical behavior. Young people like you, just out of college no doubt, no longer know the difference between right and wrong. If you ever cheated on a test in high school or college, even once, and think that it was ok just because everybody did it, and you got a good grade and ultimately graduated, then you are part of the problem.

    Tell me that you never cheated. Tell me that you never helped a friend cheat, or that you knew of someone who cheated and didn’t report that person, then you can be critical. If you can’t, then you’re part of the problem, your protestations notwithstanding.

    You have no idea what credibility is and you certainly have no basis to judge mine. My subscribers know what I stand for. It’s called telling the truth, and calling it like I see it, regardless of the consequences. They decide with their checkbooks whether or not I’m credible. As a first time casual reader, you have no clue.

  3. mark mchugh

    Hi Lee,

    I saw your comment about Jacki Zehner’s piece and had to laugh. That sort of meandering, self-absorbed drivel is every bit as damning to “The smartest guys (and gals!) on the street” as Greg Smith’s piece and they don’t even realize it. Zehner’s comments reek of mediocrity, yet she was aces at Goldman! Yeah, I’d kiss Goldman’s butt too. They saved her from a life of processing insurance claims.

    There is one point I’d like to make about Greg Smith’s attack of conscience: It coincides with deep cuts in the squid’s bonus structure. The wages of sin just ain’t what they used to be.

    Of course, you’re absolutely right in identifying our tolerance of corruption at every level as the root problem. Keep up the great work.

  4. Lee Adler

    Mark-

    I have been shaking my fist at the moon and raging against the machine for a long, long time and realize full well that that doesn’t win a person any friends. In fact, for every one that it gains me, it loses 10. So thanks for your words of support. They mean a lot to me.

    I thank Jacki Zehner for posting my comment. Since I didn’t read her piece because of my short attention span, I did not realize for certain that it was “meandering, self absorbed drivel,” although I suspected as much. I realized a long time ago that most writings longer than 4 paragraphs fell into that category, which means that much of my work fits that bill. Brevity is the soul of wit.

    Lee

  5. howard in nyc

    scum and whores indeed. starts from the top. hardly a surprise, as mayor bloomberg has proven himself to behave above the law and the first amendment, using the nypd as his muscle.

    you are not alone lee. the one friend you gain is worth more than the folks who turn away and then some. popularity ain’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway. better to be right, better to be able to be popular with the one in the mirror.

  6. Tom R

    The nerve!! Castigating Gold Sacks, Bloomberg–company and man– in a single essay is the height of daring. From my perspective, progress toward righting what’s very wrong in American society begins with re-electing NO members of Congress, but certainly ridding Capitol Hill of senators and representatives with seniority–namely, committee and subcommittee chairmen and ranking minority members. Unfortunately, oafs like Reid, McCain, and Graham can’t be touched for another five years. Obama has to to be retired,also, to unseat the likes of Holder, Napolitano, Pistole, and the dozens of czars. Hurrah for your courageous criticism. Wish I’d seen it sooner.

  7. Yirgach

    As a card carrying member of the Hard Working Scum and Whores Union (HWSAWU), I was shocked to see the hallowed HWSAWU associated with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg. Due to their extreme levels of vileness and filth, those two have been refused membership more than once. And yet they keep applying. Just know sir, that we do have a small bit of ethical standards, although we do try to keep it at a minimum. The HWSAWU proudly stands above the likes of those utterly despicable entities.

  8. Lee Adler

    I too was once a member of your union, many years ago. I was unceremoniously kicked out.

    In my brief years on Wall Street, as well as my many years in both residential and commercial real estate and real estate finance, I came to feel that about 10% of my colleagues were people of intelligence and unquestionably high standards of human decency. The other 90%… uh, not so much.

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