Goldman Sachs Is Arming Themselves Against Angry Mobs. Guilty Conscience?
By Susie Madrak Tuesday Dec 01, 2009 2:00pm
Apparently the Goldman Sachs management is starting to connect the dots? Alice Schroeder from Bloomberg writes:
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.
I called Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag to ask whether it’s true that Goldman partners feel they need handguns to protect themselves from the angry proletariat. He didn’t call me back. The New York Police Department has told me that “as a preliminary matter” it believes some of the bankers I inquired about do have pistol permits. The NYPD also said it will be a while before it can name names.
While we wait, Goldman has wrapped itself in the flag of Warren Buffett, with whom it will jointly donate $500 million, part of an effort to burnish its image -- and gain new Goldman clients. Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein also reversed himself after having previously called Goldman’s greed “God’s work” and apologized earlier this month for having participated in things that were “clearly wrong.”
Has it really come to this? Imagine what emotions must be billowing through the halls of Goldman Sachs to provoke the firm into an apology. Talk that Goldman bankers might have armed themselves in self-defense would sound ludicrous, were it not so apt a metaphor for the way that the most successful people on Wall Street have become a target for public rage.
Common sense tells you a handgun is probably not even all that useful. Suppose an intruder sneaks past the doorman or jumps the security fence at night. By the time you pull the pistol out of your wife’s jewelry safe, find the ammunition, and load your weapon, Fifi the Pomeranian has already been taken hostage and the gun won’t do you any good. As for carrying a loaded pistol when you venture outside, dream on. Concealed gun permits are almost impossible for ordinary citizens to obtain in New York or nearby states.
In other words, a little humility and contrition are probably the better route.
Until a couple of weeks ago, that was obvious to everyone but Goldman, a firm famous for both prescience and arrogance. In a display of both, Blankfein began to raise his personal- security threat level early in the financial crisis. He keeps a summer home near the Hamptons, where unrestricted public access would put him at risk if the angry mobs rose up and marched to the East End of Long Island.
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They are safe as long as TVs still work. Angry villagers with torches and pitchforks can't miss their TV shows!
But when the big collapse comes and people are desperate for something to feed their kids those fat pasty bankers are gonna look mighty tasty.
I have never thought in the realm of the survivalist/conspiracy theorist NWO types, but lately I have started thinking about what the future could bring.
How bad can it get?
If unemployment gets to depression era levels, say 25 or 30 percent and the food distribution network starts to break down... it ain't gonna be a stroll in the park..
pretty bad.
When people get desperate the illusion of civilization can crumble pretty quickly.
Fifiburgers for dinner! Yum! Daddy Warbucks, you're next!
if every TV in America was rendered useless. The ignorant masses would wake up...and feed :-)
I find the journalism appalling. Nobody named except for a quote from
someone named the New York Police Department. Pardon my disbelief.
..sensationalism. I'm sure there are highly armed, skilled and renumerated security personnel at the doors of that hallowed institution.
Exactly....this "story" has no substance.
Sheesh, basically "some guy told this friend of mine" is the basis for this story. And yeah, I"m sure that there are employees of Goldman Sachs who have gun permits, as they are entitled to. I'm sure every decent size company has at least a few employees who own guns.
What a load of bullshit this blog is.
Sounds like a rumor more than anything else to me. From what we are hearing all sorts of people are deciding to get guns for a myriad of reasons.
A few bankers spooked by death threats does not equate to "fear of a populist uprising".
One of these bankers is a Muslim and shoots up a bunch of arbitragers waiting for their annual bonuses?
What if one kills a bunch of people and friends say he often spoke of fears that Obama was going to take away his bonuses.
Then we would have something.
How did people this stupid almost ruin our countrY? Most people couldn't get off the couch long enough to take part in any kind of uprising; we're too busy watching d-list celebrities eat bugs. And those who might take part in such an attack would not think of harming anyone at GS or any other Wall Street firm, their hatred and vitriol is always aimed at the people trying to stop the freebooters not at the thieves and pirates.
I guess this wouldn't be a good time to syndicate a reprise of "Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous".
Enraged wives of the rich and famous.
Or Enhanced wives of the rich and famous?
Sounds like a hit - where the wives of the rich and famous show off their double d's (Dollars and Diamonds). Just don't preface the title of the show with "REAL".
I was thinking more of breasts enhanced wives. Isn't it required that all rich and famous wives have them?
Bankers wives must be scrawny. Check out Bonfire of then Vanities.
phhpt, the masters of the universe over at government sachs can only PRAY that they will go down in some sort of capitalist-class-hero blaze of glory and bullets with their stereotyped imagination of populist mobs. "die poor people *ratta tatta tat* die!"
that is what they hope for. but they are only deluding themselves.
what they truly fear is much less dramatic and much more likely: the fear that the govt will actually turn off the taxpayer money spigot that they are currently sucking on.
"the govt will actually turn off the taxpayer money spigot"
I dream of THAT day.
Well, after they finance the next election and get their pay-backs from that - THEN turn off the sipgot.
:)
it's hard to spend all those ill-gotten gains with a three-tined pitchfork protruding from the side of your skull.
So true....
in that case, the personal shopper needs to step up and spend the ill-gotten gains on behalf of said pitchforked person
Well if the Senate Banking Committee is all for an audit of the Federal Reserve, why wouldn't GS and their like also be in their sights. I agree, along with no more Gov'mt money is right up there with an army of IRS agents coming in the front door and asking the dreaded question, "are these all the receipts and are they in order?". They would probably prefer a rioting mob to that any day.
Sweet Jeebus. That scared the livin shugar outta me just thinkin about it.
And I don't cheat on my taxes. All I ever want is to break even. That's all I ever want.
But I will say this. My tax guy sure earns his money. I save every single receipt from work . Painters whites, brushes, everything. And I should.
Goldman Sachs can get the new microwave heat-ray thing to use on those of us who are willing to take up pitchforks and torches.
Heck, with the kind of money they have - a nuke isn't out of the question.
I doubt there are many in Manhattan who own pitchforks. Maybe they can pitch pennies?
No...wait - those are at the bank...
We don't need pitchforks. Fists and feet will work nicely.
"humility" and "contrition" are not words found in the official Government-Sachs employee guide...
Using those words is a terminationable offense. No doubt.
As a former Lehman soldier, I can say that we let our security handle the security. We were not aware of senior people owning guns, besides the occasional hunting rifle or shotgun.
Remember that the gun laws in NYC are very strict. About 50% of gun permit applications are denied. And you have to register every gun with your local police precinct (a requirement that would make people in the South revolt all over again). If executives in Connecticut have guns in their mansions, that's one thing. But it is very cumbersome to own a gun in Manhattan. There's even only one gun range in Manhattan - so if you are a sports shooter, all the cops in town know you by seeing you at the West Side Gun Club.
I will say this, and I hope all progressives here agree with me. The people who need armed protection are not bankers. They are the doctors who perform legal abortions. Let's rally around them, please.
goldman was doing god's work when they sold AAA bonds back by mortgage securities to many foreign investors and then bet against those AAA bonds. they knew people would default on mortgages their own reviewers told them so but they were blinded by god's work.
They should try being scared about where their next meal is coming from, how to survive out on the streets, or how they will pay their mounting medical bills.
They deserve to be afraid.
Like going to work in a beat up pickup with missing hub caps wearing a sideways ball cap and butt crack trousers. The proles will be looking for public displays of obnoxious wealth.
Is that Michael Steele (sideway baseball cap) or Fred Thompson (beat up PU truck)?
willing to put their manicure on the line. LOL
find out pretty quick that the guns wouldn't do them a whole lot of good and would not save them, if their little castle gates were stormed.
Nice to see that they are scared, and their action/response makes for a pretty firm indication that they are well aware that what they are doing is a wrong against the community that they are parasitizing.
are for hunting weapons. If your pistol isn't loaded and accessible, then it isn't doing you any good.
And permits may be tough for ordinary citizens, but Goldman Sachs = Rich = Not ordinary citizens.
Fixed it.
... these guys had any problem getting any permit they wanted?
Gun control was never meant to apply to them.
If the gun supply was tightened enough, that would drive up prices, leaving it for the more successful (and possibly less Likely to use it) criminal, instead of the hopped up kid robbing for a fix.
And it would dampen gang warfare in this country, when it's either spend your wealth on weapons, or more luxury items.
Won't do them any good. I would predict either -
a) they would be on the ground before they heard the shot.
or
b) a truck full of chemicals exploding just outside the front door at HQ.
At work, when I talk about Wall Street, even know I just do it in a sly, bullshitting kind of way, because I know it will never change, I get blank stares. One lady actually said that all our problems are caused by, get this... illegals. You know, the Illegals that cook all there fast food and occasional dinner out, work nights at their work places cleaning up after them You know, those underpaid workers that corporations depend on to protect their obscene profits, THEY are the problem. I just smile, shake my head, and politely say what a crock of shit that is. They don't understand how Wall Street works. They don't understand that it's actually a giant herd of the most disgusting, greedy, and miserable people on the planet. They don't understand that they actually use language like "taking profits" when a company has a successful product launch, then artificially inflate the stock and sell it at the top of that hill. It's just a world they live apart from, and they don't understand that despite all Wall Street's Ayn Randian posturing about being Super Men, they're actually contributing nothing and taking whatever they want.
They'll never have enough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrsBNH8KPE8
Goldman will be operating out of NYC for much longer. If the seniors are getting nervous, they can simply move the company. Sounds like a big deal, but, if they get scared enough, the peace of mind will make it all worth while......
Could happen. “Wall Street” as we knew it no longer exists. I don’t think those who are left are stockpiling their weapons, but I do think there is a type of siege mentality there. Barricading the doors and shoring up the defenses is being done only figuratively.
Who knows – I hear there are some good deals on real-estate in Dubai?
If these soft-handed daddy's boys are willing to buy guns themselves, I have to assume they've already hired thugs.
this author writes as though bankers will follow those things written for little people. Those pesky things called rules and laws. They'll keep the gun loaded and on their person if they are truly planning to pack heat.
Beheadings would be nice. The French had the right idea ... when these filthy selfish thugs have lost all perspective to the point where actual lives are lost as a result ... then it's time to do the deed. Wall Street beheadings .. let the world know who really has all the power. The people.
It’s never easy to tell where the mob will lead you. The French went from lobbing off the heads of Kings to putting a crown on the head a little Corporal.
"Concealed gun permits are almost impossible for ordinary citizens to obtain in New York or nearby states."
So were Swine Flu vaccinations for kids, but the Goldman boys got theirs.
"ordinary citizens".
God's work.
With those bonuses, they should be able to hire security details. I'm sure they could work out a deal with Blackwater or somebody.
... the uprising...
these guys are thieves... were they not white and in suits, the media would be raking them over the coals... and praising people for going after these wankers...
Silly bankers. Truck bombs are so much more efficient and their hand guns will do them absolutely no good against them.
How about "Thank God the suckers don't know a tenth of it"?
Humility and contrition don't pay for shit. Just show me the money and leave the serfs to their well deserved poverty.
One percent of the people hold 71 percent of the wealth in this country.The other 99 percent of the people in this country don't make enough money to move the economy forward without huge amounts of borrowing. This Economy is fundametally broken and no one is willing to take the steps needed to fix it. There needs to be a heavy tax on wealth in this country and it needs to be spread around in better paying wages for everyone. If the standard of living doesn't go up in this country. It will become a third world country even quicker than the Republicans imagined when they hatched their scheme to empty the United States Treasury into the pockets of their friends and supporters.
I'm thrilled to hear that Goldman Sachs is arming itself. It means they are starting to pay attention to populist rage against them. However, we need two more things to happen. The first is that GS, despite gun in hand, does business as usual and continues to line their pockets with our money. (I think we can agree this is going on.) The second is for "the little people" to roll out the guillotine.
Gee, why would anyone hate them?
A bunch of puffy white city boys with guns isn't much of a defense. They need the vests and safe rooms as well. Then again, a safe room isn't going to save you when the molitov cocktails crash through your windows.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of douche bags
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