Former Goldman Sachs exec Greg Smith and Darth Vader. (file)
One Goldman Sachs employee went out in a blaze of glory today, penning a scathing and very public resignation letter. The now-former executive director Greg Smith wrote a long op-ed in the New York Times, airing all his dirty laundry with the company.
In "Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs," Smith wrote, "I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."
Today was his last day at the global investment banking and securities firm. He worked as the head of the bank's U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Smith went on to describe what he calls an "eroding" corporate culture at Goldman Sachs and blamed the changes on chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and president Gary Cohn. He said making money now comes first with "morally bankrupt" employees, and the interests of the clients come later. Apparently, clients are also referred to as "Muppets" internally.
Smith said he hopes this very public breakup "can be a wake-up call to the board of directors." He warned in closing, "without clients you will not make money" and encouraged them to "make the client the focal point of your business again."
Goldman Sachs responded in an email, "We disagree with the views expressed, which we don't think reflect the way we run our business. In our view, we will only be successful if our clients are successful. This fundamental truth lies at the heart of how we conduct ourselves."
The Internets exploded over this Wall Street implosion. More notably, it prompted the satirical British website The Daily Mash to post an official "resignation letter" from Star Wars villain, Darth Vader.
In "Why I Am Leaving The Empire," the Evil One mockingly wrote, "I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its massive, genocidal space machines. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."
He, too, said this is a "wake-up call." Darth Vader advised the Empire to return to "killing people in terrifying and unstoppable ways the focal point of your business again."
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I really ca'nt see what the news is about the guy's op-ed.Even us peons have known about the criminal activities of Wall St.for year's.If you did'nt know,you are guilty of having your head up your a$$.
Watching the interview with Michael Moore right now, it's very very clear that Mike doesn't know the British usage of the word "Muppet". In fact, it's painful how he is getting it wrong.
And if the subject of the discussion hadn't made VP after 12 years then he probably left because he was about to be pushed. Remember, something like 25% of the staff at GS has the title "VP". You're doing something wrong if you don't make VP within 10 years.
To JOCA41: The POINT is that since Wall Street practically put us into a depression, not a thing has changed. I would say that certain people who want no controls over wall street must be who you are talking about when you use ? bathroom ? language.
To GORDON: It would appear that what you are doing wrong must be not being dishonest, greedy and having no morals or scruples. Believe it or not, there ARE people in this world who don't want to trample on everyone else to wallow in their money, which fails to make them happy or they would not want MORE, AND MORE, AND MORE.
I have been involved in lawsuits against Goldman and other "Investment banks" or "Bank Holding Companies" as they are now officially.
What was disturbing to me on the segment last night, was the misinformation put out by both Lawrence and Mr. Moore that whatever misdeed Goldman did was against the 1%. That is very far from the truth.
They impact everyone from the retirement funds of workers across the country to individual investors of any size and of municipalities of all sizes, from small towns in the U.S. to entire countries like the Greek federal government - Goldman played them all with misrepresentations and omissions.
There is trade data out now from a lawsuit, that shows how Goldman manipulated the stock market. I can provide it. A Judge recently ruled to unseal Goldman's trade data in that case, that shows them selling shares but not delivering those shares - routinely and in very large quantities. If these companies go BK, so much the better.
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With Judd Gregg initiated the Bank Bailout,, voted no on the BP oil spill, voted no on the Wall Street investigation, and now working for Goldman Sachs, why would you wonder if anything would be underhanded..almost too stupid to believe any of them to be anything ..but dishonest.