Wow! What is happening over at CNBC? Wednesday they had this guy Gasparino calling for the Goldman Sachs CEO to step down. Thursday morning it was Elizabeth Warren with another stellar report on TARP oversight. Today (Friday) their morning crew was actually discussing Fed transparency intelligently. And they keep playing that clip of Geithner sputtering and stuttering in defense of his job. ROFL! Seems like CNBC is getting it–somewhat–finally.
Well, following is my foray into funky financial in-forming. I don’t know why it all makes me ache to alliterate—maybe it’s the subversive Suessian subtext of the silly skylarking from these supposed adults, maybe I’ve been watching too much CNBC, maybe I’m getting the wacky world of Dr. Seuss confused with CNBC. Whatever it is, these are interesting times.
Let us start with the clip. Partial transcript below. So sayeth CNBC:
[Tuesday, Nov. 17] Goldman Sachs announced a 500 million dollar charity initiative aimed at helping small business. Today, [CNBC on-air editor] Charley Gasparino…is calling for Goldman Sachs’ CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, to resign.
After a substantial spanking from Janet Tavakoli who disparaged him as a ‘glass jawed financial entertainer’, The Gasper may have finally grown a pair. Attending Directorship.com’s Boardroom Leader’s Forum, 2009, scrutiny replaces credulity and analysis replaces stuffing your face with foie gras et les petits filets (I am assuming they don’t have Subway cater les sandwiches to these events). Gasparino finally gets it and gets growling:
I’m completely serious. Because, it’s like, enough is enough with this guy [Goldman’s Blankfein]….First off…he basically said, OK, we’re going to do this charity thing where we were first to report they were going to do a large charitable contribution. I didn’t think it was going to be this large—500 million of shareholder money is going to go to this initiative. And that raised a lot of eyebrows among CEO’s who I spoke with last night. They thought at the very at least if you’re going to do that, you know, maybe shareholders should have some say in that.
So now you’re looking out for the little guys, Charlie? Gee, thanks–it’s about time. But let’s move on:
Put that aside for now; think about what he did. He apologized for the risk taking, and their contribution, I guess, to the financial crisis. This is after spending–Goldman Sachs and Lloyd Blankfein–spending the past year telling us that they were completely hedged…in their AIG exposure, that they didn’t need the government money. And it’s all turned out to be something way short of the truth. I don’t want to say it’s a lie, it’s–that may be a step too far, but it’s spinning beyond belief. There was just a Fed study that came out that showed that their explanation for their exposure to AIG was wrong. OK? They DID need a bailout from the federal government. They DID benefit from the bailout of AIG, and Lloyd Blankfein and his PR machine has been spending the last year trying to tell us that’s not the case.
Charlie: what, pray tell, IS something that is not the truth? A ‘mistake’? And Blankfein managed the company so poorly, with so little foresight and care, making such huge mistakes that it ‘HAD’ to have help? So tell me–is that why he was being honored as “2009 CEO of the Year” and his firm, Goldman Sachs, as “the best performing and best governed company in the Fortune 500”? [I am not kidding.] Most normal people have been seeing for months this does not add up. At least you are starting to get it now, Charlie.
And then they turn around, basically…as they made 20 billion dollars of bonus money, accumulated this, basically as a commercial bank (and by the way, Melissa, try to get a loan from Goldman Sachs or, you know, open up a checking account there, it’s not really going to happen), they turn around and do this ridiculous charity thing.
…I’m speaking to a lot of small businesses people…. They don’t believe that any of this money will be dispersed. They’re telling me it’s a joke, and that, check in a year from now, on how much of that 500 million dollars actually gets to the right people. So, put it all together, it’s a big bunch of spin, and it’s about time that he just leaves.
…that is after the fact… that, let’s face it: you know, how many more times do we have to hear he’s doing God’s work?
Host Melissa Francis tries to claim Blankfein made a lot of money for shareholders, but The Gasper grabs that thought and grinds it into garbage (here’s where it gets really good):
He ‘made a lot of money’ on a subsidy. [Oh, yeah, the editor repeats: a subsidy!] …Goldman Sachs is considered a commercial bank. Because of that they are deemed “too big to fail”, they have the Fed back-up. Because of that they can borrow cheaply and they have access to cheap credit . It’s simple as this, listen, if he really wants to help, you know, make the world a better place, he can go…he and Warren Buffet, who is behind this plan, both of them should go to the federal government and say “We no longer need your subsidy”. By the way, I believe the federal government, and I have to check this…has guarantees on their debt as part of…the federal bailout mechanism. They should go, Warren Buffet and Lloyd Blankfein, should go to Obama, go to the Obama administration, go to Geithner and say “We no longer need your subsidies”. And by the way, that would be better for the taxpayers than any of this stuff, because what small businesses DON’T need is a handout from Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffet. What they need is lower taxes. They need an environment of business where they can basically survive….. Listen, the joke’s up on him. He spent the last year saying that Goldman was a bit player in this thing and now he’s apologizing. So, my view is, it’s time to leave.
Well done, Gasper, welcome to the real world. Good call.
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