It was one thing when people were just calling Goldman Sachs a “vampire squid,” or talking smack about their decision to exploit the stupidity of AIG’s Financial Products unit in order make a buck without regard for the system as a whole, or hammering their decision to help Greece work itself into a hole the same way a predatory lender might sign up a college kid for a credit card. People might call this stuff callous; Goldman Sachs calls it business, capitalism, survival of the fittest, and they’re not going to feel bad about doing it. At least, not until recently. Goldman’s latest annual report indicates that, all of a sudden, they’re taking this bad-press stuff much more seriously.
the New York company said “adverse publicity” could have “a negative impact on our reputation and on the morale and performance of our employees, which could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.”
If you ask us, we’d pinpoint the turnaround on Matt Taibbi’s recent allegations that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein is packing nuclear testicles. The United States government may turn the other cheek when it comes to sneaky accounting, but they do not fool around with the WMDs. Look what happened to Iraq!
