Matt Taibbi Discusses BofA Fraud/Bailouts and Resignation of GS Exec Greg Smith

Source: Democracy Now
Date: 3/22/2012

Description

In his new article, "Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail," Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi chronicles the remarkable history of the rise of Bank of America -- an institution he says has defrauded "everyone from investors and insurers to homeowners and the unemployed." Taibbi describes how the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly propped up the financial institution, which received a $45 billion taxpayer bailout in 2008. Bank of America has also received billions in what could be described as shadow bailouts. The bank now owns more than 12 percent of the nation's bank deposits and 17 percent of all home mortgages.

Also discussed is Goldman Sach's history of denigrating its own clients, as recently highlighted by former Goldman executive Greg Smith's explosive resignation letter in the New York Times. Decrying what he called Goldman's "toxic" culture, Smith said bosses at the firm called their clients "muppets" and strove to maximize profits at the expense of client interests, adding: "It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off." Goldman Sachs is now reportedly scanning internal emails for the term "muppet" and other evidence that employees referred to clients in derogatory ways. Taibbi argues it is naive to think there was ever a "golden era" when Goldman Sachs was a great financial institution.