Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)

Stolen from Goldman Sachs game book:
1. Remove troublesome government regulation
2. Create a bubble
3. Short the bubble

And that's why this POS is up 100% in my real portfolio.

The only difference between this and Enron is Goldman Sachs has a lot friends.

GS is the only practical and cost efficient way for an individual investor to participate in the wealth being created by hedge funds. It is also one of the best ways for individual investors to take part in the fantastic money grab by private equity players. I have spent 30+ years investing and working on Wall Street. As a street veteran, I will confess that every other Wall Street firm has a well-founded inferiority complex concerning GS. The only really big mistake GS ever made was to go public. But they did, and now we can own a part of the best money machine in the world. I've owned it for 2+ years and am very happy with the results so far.

Any good red-blooded American should be giving GS a red-thumb merely out of spite!I don't think there's anyone/anything strong enough to break the stranglehold that Wall Street has over Washington. Here are 10 reasons (scenes) why Wall Street has absolute power over our democracy. Excerpts from an article I linked to in my blog:

Jack Bauer can't stop 'The Goldman Conspiracy'

...Two mind-numbing fast-paced dramas. Two parallel worlds. One real, one fiction, both deadly...

The other drama in play: "Hank the Hammer" Paulson, iconic Wall Street hero, a Trojan Horse placed inside Washington by Goldman Sachs as Treasury Secretary in control of America's $15 trillion economy. Goldman, a modern dynasty with vast financial powers...

Both dramas play high-stakes games with financial WMDs that have lethal consequences. Jack compresses thrills, kills and chills into 24 hours. Hank, Goldman and their army of Wall Street mercenaries move with equally blinding speed, heart-pounding action.

Drama? You bet. Six short months ago Hank led an assault on Congress...with just a two-and-a-half page memo in hand. Like a crack special-ops warrior, he took down the enemy, demanding $750 billion, absolute control, total secrecy, no accountability and emergency powers to act immediately ... warning that inaction was not an option, that collapse of America's banking system was imminent, would bring down the global monetary system, pushing world's economies into a "Great Depression II." Congress surrendered. Here's the whole plot:

Scene 1. American government is now run by the 'Goldman Conspiracy'

Oh, you really think just I'm plotting a television series? Or just paranoid, exaggerating this power grab? You better read "The Usual Suspects," Matthew Malone's brilliant article in Portfolio magazine: He "exposed" the "Goldman Sachs 'conspiracy' to take over the U.S. financial system." Read it in this context: America's financial sector has exploded from 19% of corporate profits in 1986 to 41% today, becoming a magnet for every wannabe billionaire. They know why Wall Street must control Washington. Malone focuses on the incestuous "conspiracy" of Goldman alumni in Treasury, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Citigroup, Washington lobbyists and politicians.

Scene 2. Huge conflicts motivating Wall Street's 'Trojan Horse'

And just in case you think any emphasis on The Hammer's conflict of interest was invented purely to increase drama, please remember that he worked at Goldman for three decades after serving under Nixon. He got $38 million his last year as CEO in 2006 before becoming Treasury Secretary. Then during the market meltdown six months ago the $700 million personal fortune he built at Goldman was threatened by Goldman's huge $20 billion derivatives exposure at AIG: Suddenly his responsibilities at Treasury merged with a strong self-interest in protecting his personal fortune. AIG was "saved."

Scene 3. Wall Street's 'quiet coup' also runs world's banking system

There's another equally disturbing expose in "The Quiet Coup," Simon Johnson's great article in Atlantic magazine. A former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, Johnson also warns that America's "financial industry has effectively captured our government" and is "blocking essential reform." Worse, he says that unless we break Wall Street's stranglehold (unlikely in the new Washington) we will be unable "to prevent a true depression," warning that "we're running out of time," echoing many of our predictions of the "Great Depression II" coming soon...

Scene 4. Wall Street used the meltdown to take over America's government

Matt Taibbi, author of "The Great Derangement," captured this drama in a Rolling Stone piece, "The Big Takeover, how Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution." A must-read: "As complex as all the finances are, the politics aren't hard to follow. By creating a crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future. ... in the age of CDS and CBO, most of us are financial illiterates." Wall Street "used the crisis to effect a historic, revolutionary change in our political system -- transforming a democracy into a two-tiered state, one with plugged-in financial bureaucrats above and clueless customers below."

Scene 5. How Obama is keeping alive Bush's 'disaster capitalism'

Back in 2007 at the start of the meltdown, Hank was misleading us in Fortune: "This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime." In the real world, Naomi Klein, author of "The Shock Doctrine: Rise of Disaster Capitalism," was warning us that "during boom times it's profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles." But "when those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance and goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue." Then, free-market "ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis." TARP paybacks: Obama has a new "disaster capitalism."

Scene 6. Wall Street's CEOs rule like dictators in a banana republic

Seriously, here's how bad Taibbi sees it: "Paulson and his cronies turned the federal government into one gigantic half-opaque holding company, one whose balance sheet includes the world's most appallingly large and risky hedge fund, a controlling interest in a dying insurance giant, huge investments in a group of teetering megabanks, and shares here and there in various auto-finance companies, student loans, and other failing business." And let's include $5.5 trillion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Wall Street's greed and stupidity resembles the self-destructive reigns of banana republic dictators.

Scene 7. Wall Street makes an un-American bet on 'disaster capitalism'

...The "Goldman Conspiracy" is still probably a good short-term buy ... if you're interested in betting on America's new "democracy of capitalists, by capitalists, and for capitalists," with "The Conspiracy" leading the joint chiefs of this new mercenary army ... and it only took six short months for their "Quiet Coup!"

Scene 8. Banks recycle TARP money, pump earnings, cheat America

Here's how it worked: The Hammer conned a clueless Congress, then shelled out $350 billion of our taxpayer money (Helicopter Ben Bernanke helped by upping the ante with a couple trillion side-bet), buying toxic debt to save his ol' Wall Street buddies. They stopped lending and used the dough to doctor their balance sheets. So no surprise that Goldman, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase are now reporting "blockbuster" first-quarter earnings, says the New York Times, while just months ago "many of the nation's biggest banks were on life support." Get it? They screwed taxpayers and borrowers so they can repay TARP with (you guessed it) our recycled TARP money. Now it's back to business-as-usual, with no restrictions on CEO pay and bonuses ... no thank-yous ... no admissions of guilt ... while some even arrogantly deny that they ever needed TARP money.

Scene 9. Wall Street's already set the stage for new disaster

Right after the election in November, at the peak of the banking crisis...we detailed 30 reasons for the "Great Depression II" likely coming around 2011. We quoted John Whitehead, former Goldman Sachs chairman, former chairman of the New York Fed, former Reagan deputy secretary of state. He warned America's problems will take years, burn trillions, result in massive deficits: "This is a road to disaster," he said. "I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here." He did see a depression at the end of that road, one you can call the "Great Depression II."

Scene 10. Obama turned 'The Goldman Conspiracy' into a superpower

...Hope that Jack, Barack or some other new hero will emerge, take power back from Wall Street and return it to the people. Unfortunately that won't happen, folks... Hank, Goldman and Wall Street's mercenaries are winning the war. Read and weep Portfolio's chilling finale: "Obama's victory and Geithner's appointment are the completion of Goldman's meticulously crafted plan to become a superpower. The firm now has the clout to impose its will on the financial markets, and the world."

GOP or Dems? Conservatives or liberals? It doesn't matter. We'll all controlled by "The Conspiracy."

These corrupt scum bags, selling garbage and now wanting a bailout. But Buffett is buying so this NEW ENRON will go higher....

this stock ran from 58>233 and then retraced 45% on move back to 157.38. it then took out its previous high at 233 with increase in volume and i would project GS to 333 over next 2 -4 years, and now i get to buy back near the C point in an ABCD zigzag up move instead of buying the breakout at 233

Goldman Sachs Will be Dismantled by the U.S. Government just like Ma Bell. They have too much wealth and power and are too dangerous and cannot be trusted.
GS holding the market hostage with their wealth is not beneficial and unhealthy.they manage entirely too much money in this environment. They are using their wealth to capture everyone elses money. They are not creating wealth simply hoarding it.

This stock market now is like would be the equivalent of a 2009 U.S. military in a war vs 1944 U.S. Military. Out gunned and outmanned by GS.
Strategically the next move would be to destroy more wealth by crashing the market while your short crushing competitors.
Then bringing it up again with you even stronger.
It is like betting on a game that is fixed. They cannot lose since they know the outcome and they use darkpool trading with all the subsidary hedge funds to move the market.
Public outrage will grow. The only reason banks became to big to fail was because the survival of Goldman was tied to GS getting their insurance money. IF AIG went under no money for GS.
Playing in the stock market now is not a free market. It is similar to betting on a game where Goldman determines the winner at will because they can outspend you.
I believe program trading will be either eliminated or more heavily regulated by within 5 years or sooner.
This is not even comparable to a company which set prices on a service like AT&T.
They set the prices for EVERY GOOD IN EXISTENCE VIA THE STOCK MARKET.
If the U.S. public was mildly intelligent they would realize this.

I believe Goldman is set up nicely for future returns. It sports a forward P/E of 9 and has an estimated 5 year growth rate of over 15% (which translates to a PEG ratio of .6 ! ) It has an abundance of cash per share and offers a modest .9% yield. I think GS is positioned for greatness over the next few years, regardless of the market situation.

With his charting of Goldman-Sachs here:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/3287029220_e835e35001_o.jpg
GoodVibe4ever has convinced me that GS is topping out. I should have picked this Thumbs-down back on 2/13/09, but I think it's still got a little ways to fall. The wrinkle in this down pick is that GS has friends in high places within this government, so if there's enough blood in the water, GS will not fall as hard as others of their ilk. Still, I'm hoping for short-term falls here only. And only in CAPS. (This is too risky a pick for me in real life trading.)

Too many ways to win with this stock. Bull markets, volatile markets, increased acquisition of wealth to high net worth clients. The firm itself seems to be trading better than its peers. Not a massively loved sector and I'm bullish on the sector. Purely based on the financial ratios it looks too good not to buy, let's hope they continue to trade well.

GS has been unduly punished for both subprime lending issues and US economic worries.

They will continue strong growth and the subprime is minimal portion of their business.

Econ plateau may even spell opportunity for merger and other investment banking revenue from companies looking for growth candidates.

While GS has picked up recently, they are still attractive at $210 with a P/E of 10, but strong buy below 200.

12m target $250 as investors move back at end of year toward more stable growth and financials.

WOW!! Not only does this company hire the best and brightest minds available, it churns out some of the best managers possible. I think Goldman has a sound hold on their risk positions and will continue to meet or beat analysts' expectations.

Have you ever heard the expression, "Sometimes the best things in life are right under your nose."? Goldman Sachs is a perfect example of that old cliche'.

You won't find a more well known company at a cheaper price. Goldman Sachs, simply put, is a cash making machine.

With inside ownership and ROE both near 30%, a PE near single digits, and an intrinsic value of near $300 a share, this business can play a solid anchor role in any porfolio.

Go Long,
Fool On!!!

Goldman Sachs is definately the most respected company in financial services. They are at the very top in many markets and are very savvy as a whole. This one should be at or near the top of the list for anyone investing in financial services.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they are going to get the job done. They attract the best talent nationally and globally. Long term hold.

best of breed

With the recovery the need for I-banking will return just as the number of market players has dindled.

They basically mint money.

Finally!
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/03/quelle-surprise-who-gained-from-aig.html

bsc dead, mer dead, leh dead, c dead, are there any competitors alive and kicking ?