Michael Lewis Attacks Goldman Sachs, Wall St.'s Political Influence (VIDEO)

Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and Liar's Poker appeared in front of Hudson Union Society earlier this month. He spoke for about an hour, and some of his strongest words dealt with the increasingly political influence of Wall Street on Capitol Hill.

When asked why his article "The End Of Wall Street," which appeared in Portfolio in December of last year, didn't have more influence in the government, Lewis said he had learned through friends that it had been widely read in Washington.

Lewis said he was shocked that his piece, which he said he spent about a month on, actually taught members of the government things they didn't know. "I now know how little they know," Lewis said.

He also said that Washington's understanding of the financial crisis is coming from a "very particular point of view, namely Goldman Sachs." The Obama administration has essentially extended the Bush administration's approach to the problem," he added.

"We've had 25 years where the Goldman Sachs' of the world are ruling the world," said Lewis.

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Comments

[Halsey]

Lewis, has been telling US that the emperor is naked for years... Liar's Poker..anyone who thinks there's any exaggeration...does NOT work in financial sector. I got a kick (when I read Liar's many many years ago)..that Lewis was hired with I "think" an art history degree...a liberal arts major..in the belly of the beast (and well paid for it...no doubt).... Obama's handling IS disappoint­ing...(mcC­ain would have been so much worse..but)...it would seem MY Barak has fallen under the spell of these uber-salesmen... ice to eskimos... way to easy... I have seen a hubris beyond description in these men (sorry..they ARE mostly well-attired white guys)....the guy in american psycho...a piker...he chopped up fellow wall street honchos (I think it was allegory..not literal..let me know if I'm right jay)...
the REAL suits...are automatons...geared to the dollar...u­ncaring...­needing enough $$ for the right house in the Hamptons...and apparently the right cotton blend biz card...

W came up with the axis of evil.... well...the real evil creeps in softly on little cat feet...
Goldman, Lehman (it still exists), JPmorgan..but #1 IS Bill Clinton's Goldman (hey..thanks Rubin..you're a great guy)....

we need collective, synchonrized barfing on every last wall street power junkie... will it change them or the power structure.­.nope..but by gawd it'd be fun....

[DoctorH]

Michael Lewis is brilliant. As a fellow New Orleans-born person, he makes me proud. I wish he would not be so quick to say "Maybe I am wrong." There is every reason why he should be right. If Geithner thinks he is right and Lewis is wrong, let Geithner prove it to us and spell out his reasoning.

I agree with Michael Lewis on everything except where he says "It's not just campaign contibutions." It IS campaign contibutions.

The Golden Rule of Politics, rules our system as it is currently structured. That is, he who supplies the gold makes the rules. Giant corporations and other special interest groups now supply the "gold" for Congress through campaign contribtuions, and as a result, their lobbyists literally write the legislation that is supposed to be regulating their industries-- including the financial industry, the health care industry etc . The fox gets to guard the henhouse over and over. No wonder we have severe unsolved problems.

If taxpayers supplied the gold-- and also searched for, and elected, pragmatic honest dedicated people who want to solve the whole nation's problems, -- then we taxpayers could make the rules and get a lot of problems solved. Right now our system's structure makes sure that we instead give the power to people who only want to solve their own special interest group's problems.

[nomorefed]

Your house is worth $125,000 but you paid $250,000 don"t worry with "Mark-To-Market" Neutered you can say whatever you want to about your home value and no one can refute you!
Now when you go in for a loan, simply declare the house is worth $300,000 and along with your clean "ON-THE-BOOKS Balance Sheet" with no visible other debts means you get money from the FED at 1% interest or maybe less!
Why can"t this world be true for ALL AMERICANS like it is for Wall Street?
We do not own Congress and they DO using ill-gotten FUNDS!
Are the Wall Street Banks really healthy? With "OFF-THE-BOOKS" accounting and "MARK-TO-MARKET" Neutered who knows what the truth is!

good articles: href=".http://kl.am/tsc> recommended website

[vandegrasse]

The only things politicians stand for are elections! And even those are rigged, just as badly as they are in Iran.

[BigBagel]

#1-The FIRE (Finance, Insurance,Real Estate) economy is dying. These sectors of the economy are there to serve core sectors like manufacturing. They have become the be all and end all and no amount of political influence will bring them back.
#2- America is a different kind of banana republic. Companies can give members of the governing elite bribes openly when the elites take brief respites from government. They're called speaker fees. Larry Summers and his ilk have grown fat of such fees from the likes of Goldman.

[Sharon908]

Wow, Lewis CAN DEFINITELY write! The article was one of the best I've read aside from some with Meredith Whitney's views and those of Nouriel Roubini..WALL STREET..you could say, Nobody knows it better. Glad that Mr. Lewis is one of the remaining "honest" people who do try to help the rest of us see what actually is going on. It's obvious, this is FAR from over. Next to come will be Option ARMeggedon once all those toxic assets re- emerge from government imposed moratorium..BING the word for a real eye opener. More bank implodes may be right around the corner.
http://ml-implode.com

[nomorefed]

1st 100 days - There are 2.9 million more people unemployed in May than there were unemployed in January. The unemployment rate went from 7.6% to 9.4%.
Since May 2008, we have lost 5.5 million jobs. The biggest losers were:
Manufacturing 1.5 million lost
Finance & Prof Serv 1.5 million lost
Construction 1.1 million lost
Retail & Leisure 1.3 million lost

good articles href=".http://www.bit.ly/12NCJR>recommended reading

[CarbonEmitter]

Yep, Goldman held the entire economy hostage. And you know what? No one's gonna ever stop them from doing it again! That's why Woodrow Wilson said on his deathbed that he should have never created the Fed. He knew the Federal Reserve would grant unlimited power to the so-called moneychangers. . .well, no sh*t. Couple the outstanding power of our central bank with the interest group politics engendered by the FDR New Deal years, and it is no surprise that these guys will lobby themselves to take an unlimited amount of risk into the future. . . and they will be bailed out if the risks they take don't pan out well.

It seems no one cares that the moneychangers will risk us into the harrowing depths of stagflation. Hang on for the ride. A little of advice for the future shall suffice: Make friends with a Goldman banker and buy your way into government's favor. It'll help for the dark times ahead.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

In response to most of the comments to this blog:
Goldman Sachs got bailout money but they didnt need it. They're going to return it soon. That's not how the bank bailout worked. They got money in order to restore confidence in banks in general to prevent more bank runs after Lehman Brothers failed (which it shouldn't have in the first place-Bush was just incompetent).
Micheal Lewis is talking about why its a bad idea to have the same people that run banks into the ground running the government and giving the government advice on how to the run the Fed. Basically, Harvard and Yale MBA's and law graduates have far too much control over our country. They know eachother and hire eachother and get consulting advice from eachother for powerful jobs, even after they get fired or are disgraced in their previous position.

[PhilipTaylor]

You are Right!

Having seen this exact EL1TE Oligarchy in action we must De-Link them from our CONGRESS and Representatives through Campaign Reform:

Campaign Reform so Good People in Congress can STAY GOOD PEOPLE IN CONGRESS!

Simple Solution to PROTECT OUR Congress Members Votes so votes are NOT sold to Highest Bidders:

1. Setup a Government Contribution Acceptance and Funds Distribution Agency
2. Funnel all Political Contributions through this agency
3. Uses strict formulas for allocating funds to House+Senate Members
4. "B1indly" distribute lump sums twice per year to Politicians - No KNOWN SOURCES of funds!
5. Reserve part of funds for those New Candidates that meet campaign funding criteria
6. Two? Term Limits for Senators
7. Four? Term Limits for House Members

[jhadev]

Wrong - Goldman got 10Billion back door from AIG's Tarp money and without it we would not be discussing them today.

[northstar11]

i think the wall street gang knew the bubble was about to burst .they did not want to be left holding the bag .

.they arranged for paulsan to be in control of the game when the GREATEST HEIST IN HISTORY was about to go down

the boys squandered huge fortunes in financing the bubble and covered their losses by stealing it from every taxpayer in the USA for generations.

all they had to do was scream that the sky is falling------ theirs was till they robbed the rest of the country.

a trillion dollars later .......the peasants scream we was robbed and the bnoys grin and lick their chops.

[DubiousVoter]

You hit it on the nose!

This was a conspiracy to rob the US Treasury from the beginning. I'm surprised that no one ever questioned why so many top execs from Goldman Sachs ended-up in key roles at Treasury.

[branchwater1113]

And the biggest disappointment? Obama and the gang are just continuing along with the same game. The big guys got rich on the way up (while the rest of us suffered thru 8 years of having our pockets picked), and now they're getting richer as their govt friends hand them more of our $$$ to cover their mistakes.

Worse than that, 'Steppenwo­lfsayshi's­' Yale and Harvard girls and guys in Obama's govt are too timid and too self-serving to slap the oligarchs' wrists or restore regulations to keep this whole mess from happening again.

[Rule Of Law]

And they will get richer still when they are hired to clean up the mess that they intentionally created. The fees will amount to a small fortune, because after this rip off, anything else IS a small fortune.

[iddja]

the question is: are there going to be investigations? is paulson going to do time for the crimes he did? Jail Paulson!

[northstar11]

not a chance--it was the perfect crime---- the peoples elected representatives handed over the cash voluntarily

you can send them a thank you card for their generosity on your behalf.

[themodernleader]

Michael Lewis, a patriot, is warning anybody who is willing to listen that we are losing our democracy. Who among those who are paying attention have the courage or honor to stand up to save our country? Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson: Where are you to save our country from destruction and ruin? Only silence as the gates of hell open for an exceptional and self-blinded people.

[mattyd123]

Sounds like he is drinking from the conspiracy punch bowl. Wall Street doesn't have that much influence on Washington. These people are public servants and along with Obama are looking out for our best interest.

[HelloFunnyWorld]

LOL.... "Wall Street does'nt have that much influence on Washington." That's funny.

It would be nice if that's all Michael Lewis's book is: a 'conspiracy' theory. But it is not.

Fact is, there are no 'conspiracy' theories any more, only 'Strategy/­Strategies and a huge lack of character and moral responsibility here.

Read the book - Liar's Poker.... You might like it.

Like all of us who have knowledge about our jobs & place of employment, many ordinary people who worked/work on Wall Street know stuff as well. That's all.

[northstar11]

very funny --you should add LOL---or risk being taken seriously

[HelloFunnyWorld]

Next time. Thanks.

[Rule Of Law]

Checked mattie out, and you're right. I totally missed the sarcasm.

[billyfitz]

You're kidding, right? Either you're kidding or you're the world's biggest fool.

[sosi]

Congress only pretend to know but they know nothing and stand up for nothing. Michael Lewis:
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom

[LeeCalif]

Thanks for the link !

[ErnestineBass]

That article is AMAZING.

[plebeianswillrevolt]

One thing you need to remember about Michael Lewis is that he is a hated backstabber everywhere except on the cutsy talk shows, .... equally hated on the scale that Mr. Maggot Jim Cramer is among the public.

[johnsonc20]

I appreciate your vast knowledge, plebeian. I had know idea he was equally hated on the scale of Cramer, but I will take your anonymous word for it. Documentation would be helpful.

[johnsonc20]

Make that NO idea. Damned homonyms.

[masher]

Hated people are often just honest. So what is your point?

[Darkhorse77]

Exactly. I just read Liar's Poker after seeing Lewis on Fareed Zakaria's GPS. My guess is he may be hated because he has called it like he sees it.

And anyone who doesn't think Obama is extending the Bush Administration's approach really isn't paying attention.

[HelloFunnyWorld]

No he is'nt.

[northstar11]

maybe wall street does not like him ---i wonder why would that be,

[ErnestineBass]

Wall Street has a problem with people who tell the truth.