The People vs. Goldman Sachs

The US investment bank Goldman Sachs is earning a reputation as public enemy no. 1 in the financial world. At the same time the firm is one of the Commission’s favourites when it comes to asking for advice on regulating financial markets . It is high time for the Commission to close the door on Goldman Sachs, this article concludes. On the 16th April, the US financial authorities, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accused the renowned investment bank of outright fraud in connection with billion dollar deals made on American house owners’ misery by tricking European financial corporations. It’s not every day you see the US authorities file charges against a major financial institution, and the stock market reacted swiftly. But whereas criminal charges against the bank are rare, Goldman Sachs has provoked public opinion on numerous occasions in the past decade. The pending case will at its root be about making a profit from accelerating the financial crisis. But there’s more. The skilful staff of Goldman Sachs have managed to reap benefits from major crises that have caused enormous harm to millions of people. Also, the renowned investment bank and Wall Street power house has also done its bit to slow down action on Greek debt, and has profited from pushing millions into hunger by way of commodity speculation. These examples are developed in this article to make the case to decision makers in the European Union to cut close ties to the bank. For despite all this, the European Commission very often chooses advisors from Goldman Sachs to help shape the rules of the financial markets in the European Union. The Commission has ignored the negative side of Goldman Sachs and has regularly allowed it to take a seat among the privileged few who get to influence proposals for EU legislation long before they are presented to the public and the open political process starts. The question is whether the case in the US should be taken as the opportunity to stop this access, and expel Goldman Sachs from these “Expert Groups”. A French translation can be found here: http://ellynn.fr/dessousdebruxelles/spip.php?article128