Lloyd Blankfein: "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word"
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, the only non-government employee at the 4-man meeting to decide the fate of AIG, sent a letter of apology and appreciation to various officials yesterday (Frank, Bachus, Shelby and Dodd) for the government's support during the financial crisis. There was no word on his thank you to former CEO of Goldman and Treasury, Hank Paulson.
What about a letter to taxpayers, Lloyd? The stooges in Washington gave the go-ahead, we gave the cash. A press release thanking us might be something to think about.
As long as we are discussing TARP repayment (I'll get into it more deeply this weekend), don't be fooled. Goldman and all the others have FDIC-backed debt still floating; Goldman got at least $13 billion from AIG payouts at par (some have said $20 billion); Goldman will benefit from the TALF and the remaining components of Geithner's P-PIP plus the myriad other Fed-Treasury-FDIC programs.
Still waiting on 'thank-yous' from the other CEOs.
From Dealbook we have the following quotes:
Lloyd C. Blankfein, told leading Congressional lawmakers on Tuesday that he regretted Goldman had “participated in the market euphoria” that led to the financial crisis.
Mr. Blankfein said Goldman was “grateful for the government’s extraordinary efforts and the taxpayers’ patience” during the crisis. And he acknowledged in letters obtained by DealBook that “certain practices were unhealthy” for the banking system.
In his letters to lawmakers, Mr. Blankfein wrote that Goldman had “an explicit contract with our shareholders to be responsible stewards of their capital.”
“While we regret that we participated in the market euphoria and failed to raise a responsible voice, we are proud of the way our firm managed the risk it assumed on behalf of our client before and during the financial crisis,” he said.
Mr. Blankfein added: “We believe that repayment of the government’s investment is a strong sign of progress and one measure of the ability to recover from the crisis. But real stability can return only if our industry accepts that certain practices were unhealthy and not in the long-term interests of individual institutions and the financial system, as a whole.”
Mr. Blankfein did not specifically identify the unhealthy “certain practices” in his letter, although he committed Goldman “to working constructively with regulators and policymakers to address systemic weaknesses and gaps that may have contributed to the financial crisis.”
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Elton John 1976 LIVE)
Jun 18, 2009 at 2:58 AM
