Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

www.nytimes.com

It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail.

...These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave.

(visit the link for the full news article)



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This letter was published today in the New York Times - from Greg Smith - who is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

ATS members have been all over the exodus. Along with many others, I assumed the mass resignations are evidence of rats leaving a sinking ship.

This letter provides a bit of an alternate perspective. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a sea change in how our world conducts business.

Naive I know, but one can hope.





www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by soficrow

This letter provides a bit of an alternate perspective. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a sea change in how our world conducts business.

The only change i see here is that if what you say is true, all those bankers that resign are the good guys, that just can´t take it anymore. What does this leave us with? That´s right, the bad guys at the rudder!

A change for worse, sadly.

Honestly with the recently banking doomsday exercise that happened, and only 4 banks failed this time compared to the 14 that did last year, things aren't looking as bad economically, unless they are kinda floating the boat so to speak and keeping hearsay alive with smoke and mirrors. That could be the reason the economy has gotten better ( Via Stocks ) but the job market only adds, service jobs.

I think if anything, these workers are being harassed by their friends, family, and neighbors.


Hopefully someday, money will be history, and life will be everything.

reply to post by NeoVain


I hate to disagree with you but those bankers that are leaving are not the good guys, they are the rats leaving the sinking ship that is the rustbucket Economy.
They are the ones that hope to disappear into the shadows and out of peoples minds when the lynch mobs finally get off their Xboxs and Ipods, they leave to evade 'justice' in what form she decides to take.

Originally posted by DataWraith
reply to post by NeoVain

 

I hate to disagree with you but those bankers that are leaving are not the good guys, they are the rats leaving the sinking ship that is the rustbucket Economy.
They are the ones that hope to disappear into the shadows and out of peoples minds when the lynch mobs finally get off their Xboxs and Ipods, they leave to evade 'justice' in what form she decides to take.

edit on 14/3/12 by DataWraith because: (no reason given)

You clearly did not understand the OP. This guy is telling the reason he is leaving is because it makes him sick how they treat their customers, like muppets basically. Does this make him a bad guy for not choosing to do this any longer??

Originally posted by soficrow

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

www.nytimes.com

It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail.

...These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, “How much money did we make off the client?” It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Trader on BBC "Goldman Sachs" Runs the world.
Massive Wave Of Resignation (Part IV): It's Not Slowing Down!
Bankers resignations came ahead of huge unfolding scandal.
The List of Bank Resignations Keeps Growing! It's quadrupled, in fact!

Then he got into the wrong business by the looks of it. You have to have a certain "character" to be a mover and shaker in that industry and GS is top dog when it comes to cut throat power grabs. Part of me make me wonder how he got so far...me tinks he played along for some time before the angel on his shoulder overvoiced the devil on the other.

That being said, kudos to him for doing the right thing.

It's good to see that there are some people within the banking industry that have a heart. Hell, I can't even get my local bank teller to give a damn.....let alone an Exec. Director of a division in GS!

I've been digging through market data and some other sources, and I think things are about to get rocky. The rats can jump ship but there is no longer anywhere to jump to.

reply to post by soficrow


Jim Cramer (of Mad Money fame/infamy depending who you are) profiled this article on this morning's news. Thank you so much for posting it!

I will be watching the fallout, and whether this brave soul has a self-imposed "accident" which proves to our sheeple what a criminal or all-out idiot this guy is. I can't imagine the fear he must be feeling, and can only hope he has the full support of his family. Otherwise they may be very disappointed that their country club membership has been rescinded.

Hopefully, Greg will parlay this unfortunate turn of events into an opportunity to open a firm to compete against GS's, but I sincerely fear for his well-being. However, I suspect a man of his intelligence and experience may already have a new identity and home country.

Blody awesome letter.. really that made my day.
Friken jam it to those banking mobsters!
Hang them in the streets and be it a warning to everyone considering robbing the public of its wealth!

Yes, I think the camel's has broken back, the 15 trillion of bogus money at the bank of Scotland, I think was the final straw. These people are far to blatant and thought they could get by with anything, like the ball and cup game, rip off.
Well this is out in the open now, and heads are going to fall on this one, they went to far and have been caught.
Unless this is all part of the plan to switch to a one world currency, they will strip away the savings of most everyone one else, as this bubble burst of the fiat money system.

Just think if these banks close their doors , people are going to try and start killing bankers the higher the better.

I don't see how this would come out good on the short term.

That 15 trillion amounts to our national debt, this has been out there for a while, to only come to light and investigation of late, these people are not stupid this is probably just a way to get what they want, full control of the world.

Good on him, the only thing which will effect change is more whistle blowers and or violent revolution. Hopefully the whistle blowers will hear the call...

Sorry - missed this one:

Goldman Sachs banker quits "toxic" firm

And from CNN:

Greg Smith, executive director at Goldman Sachs, has written an open letter to The New York Times saying he will resign Wednesday and that the investment bank has become "toxic."

As was said long ago, "the LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil", and the GS employee clearly saw how fellow employees and their employer's culture rotted from this greed.

For three decades now citizens have been increasingly referred to as "consumers", made to live in a corporate oriented/controlled world, dictated to by "free markets" in all areas of our lives, and where conmen ply their trade.

People must become, must start thinking of themselves as, citizens again.

And think again if more religion is the answer..

My dismay with the White House was with how the Christian voters were used and manipulated, with how President Bush's own personal faith in Jesus was used to recruit pastors and Christian voters, with how the White House manipulated the news cycle thereby giving it political cover

David Kuo who had to hear fellow GOP political staffers refer to certain religious voters as "kooks".

Originally posted by sheepslayer247.....let alone an Exec. Director of a division in GS!

Just to clear up any confusion "Executive Director" doesn't mean all that much at GS. An ED is the same as a VP for non-US client facing business and isn't all that high up the food chain. Not to say the letter didn't have good points but in a 12 year career at GS, this guy should at least be an MD if not a partner. He is not the "Director of a Division". In fact he is junior to ~475 partners and likely 1000+ MDs.

He is 12 years into his career and has likely spent 5 to 6 years as an ED when you normally get promoted to MD after 3 years. In all honesty it sounds bit like this guy was unhappy that he had gotten stuck with no chance for promotion.

This article provides a bit better overview of the realities of this guy: dealbreaker.com...

This seems contrived and opportunistic. Smith is a 12 year employee and for 6 of those years Blankfein was CEO. So for 6 years he endured this company's so called toxic atmosphere to the point where it made him quit. Smith did state it was a deterioration but still why did he wait so long. I'm fairly certain Smith stuffed his pockets like all these other rat bastards and chose a good exit strategy. Did he get any type of package or severance when he left ?

I fully expect to see a solid book deal and movie starring Shea Labeouf a la Wall Street 3 "Grumpy Paradise"

brill

I wanted desperately to believe him right up to the point where he said "have done nothing illegal".
He was in upper management?
Even schleps like me know GS have done some illegal acts.
This only adds to the conspiracy theorists question of do they know something that we don't about the near-term future?

Originally posted by googolplex
Yes, I think the camel's has broken back, the 15 trillion of bogus money at the bank of Scotland, I think was the final straw. These people are far to blatant and thought they could get by with anything, like the ball and cup game, rip off.
Well this is out in the open now, and heads are going to fall on this one, they went to far and have been caught.
Unless this is all part of the plan to switch to a one world currency, they will strip away the savings of most everyone one else, as this bubble burst of the fiat money system.

Just think if these banks close their doors , people are going to try and start killing bankers the higher the better.

I don't see how this would come out good on the short term.

That 15 trillion amounts to our national debt, this has been out there for a while, to only come to light and investigation of late, these people are not stupid this is probably just a way to get what they want, full control of the world.

That 15 trillion never existed, the MP who made that speech was using CC'd E-mails someone sent him, it's an old scam. They show a large security and claim is it backing the investment so there is no risk. When in fact they debt is unsecured and will soon be buying used BMW's in Nigeria. So his speech on the floor was like Charlie Sheen turning his fake snuff film over to the FBI.


As to what others are saying about the upcoming collapse of the financial markets, I give it a year tops, maybe even as little as 6 months if gas doesn't come down.

Originally posted by NeoVain
reply to post by soficrow

 

This letter provides a bit of an alternate perspective. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a sea change in how our world conducts business.

The only change i see here is that if what you say is true, all those bankers that resign are the good guys, that just can´t take it anymore. What does this leave us with? That´s right, the bad guys at the rudder!

A change for worse, sadly.

A mercenary with Blackwater/XE after killing a thousand people, decides to call it quits because he has reached his personal karma quota. Is he one of the good guys or just a semi-reformed killer?

I do agree, there are worse running the "ship" now/still. I don't see a massive change for the worse, just gradual degrees of the situation becoming worse. If we don't get some laws with teeth in place to circumvent this predatory behavior, this will more than likely result in mass violence as the system collapses further. Deliberately burn a guy for 10 million who has a 100 million and watch the outfitted jackals come out of the woodwork equipped with a "measly" $14,000 Barrett M99.

Cheers - Dave