The Occupy Movement’s “Wall Street on the Waterfront” action effectively shut down sea ports up and down the West Coast, including in Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and Longview, with partial shutdowns or support actions at Long Beach, San Diego, Hueneme (Ventura County), and Vancouver, B.C on December 12.  They targeted ports owned by Goldman Sachs, drawing attention to one of the poster child’s of the corporatist forces threatening to seize control of the globe.  Goldman Sachs actions include: 1. Massive lobbying, 2. Revolving door of Goldman employees and political positions 3.Engineering and profiting from the economic collapse, 3. receiving taxpayer money, 4. Manipulating markets 4. Outrageous profits and tax evasion. 

1.  Lobbying: Goldman Sachs contributed over 1 million dollars (Ref 7.) to Obama’s 2008 campaign.  They have spent between 2.5 and 4.5 million dollars lobbying per year since 2006. 

2.  Revolving door: Goldman’s lobbying has paid off, Obama appointed GS employees to the following positions: head of the NY Federal Reserve; Chief of Staff of the Treasury Department; head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Chairman FIAB, Deputy Director NEC, Ambassador to Germany, Securities Exchange Commission Enforcement, White House Staff, White House counsel, and CFTC Chairman. Henry Paulson was CEO of Goldman when he was appointed by Bush to Secretary of the Treasury, where he was instrumental in providing bailout funds to GS.   (Ref. 1) 

3. Engineering and profiting from the current economic crisis:  GS was a major trader of mortgage bundles (called Collateralized Debt Obligations, CDO’s) during the lead up to the housing market collapse in 2008.  Mortgage bundles are created when a lending bank sells it’s mortgages to an investment bank (GS.)  The investment bank then bundles the mortgages sells them to investors.  In just the first half of 2006 GS sold 3.1 billion dollars of toxic mortgage bundles to investors, including retirement funds, pensions and 401ks.  Goldman knew that the mortgages were risky, and secretly bet against them with 22 billion in insurance policies from AIG.

          When the housing market collapsed in 2008 the mortgages became worthless, devastating pension funds and savings.  AIG, unable to meet its insurance obligations, went bankrupt and was taken over by the Treasury.  Thankfully Henry Paulson, then Secretary of the Treasury, was there to provide taxpayer money to AIG, and Goldman collected 14 billion of taxpayer money (Ref 6).  Henry Paulson forced AIG to pay Goldman and others 100 cents on the dollar, instead of negotiating lower prices; and he stripped AIG of its power to sue Goldman for fraud.  The AIG bailout cost taxpayer 150 billion dollars. 

Goldman has been fined by the SEC and is currently under investigation for it’s bad mortgage bundle deals.  (Ref. 2)

4.  Receiving taxpayer money: The bailout of AIG was not the only time Goldman benefited from government favoritism.  The government “provided it billions of dollars in the form of cheap loans, FDIC debt guarantees, TARP, AIG make-wholes, and a late-night moniker change from investment bank to bank holding company, giving the firm access to excessive Federal Reserve aid.”  According to journalist Nomi Prins, former Goldman director.  (Ref. 8)

Goldman also turns a profit at taxpayer expense through their status as one of the Federal Reserves “primary dealers.”  When the government borrows money (sells bonds) it allows a few huge banks like Goldman to serve as middle man, making money at taxpayer expense.

5.  Market manipulation:  Goldman also enjoys the status of “market maker,” allowing them to manipulate prices by counterfeiting stocks (known as “naked shorting”) and selling them to drive prices down. 

They have also intervened in markets to drive prices up as they did in the food markets.  Previously commoditys (like food) trading was limited to industry players to keep stock gamblers out and keep prices stable.  Goldman Sachs created the Commodity Index, bringing in speculators to drive up the prices of food.  The ensuing food price bubble starved millions in 2007-2008. Ref. 5

6.  Insane profits and tax evasion: Even while taking advantage of government bailout Goldman earned 11.5 billion in profit for 2008 (Ref. 3).  CEO Lloyd Blankfeind received $53,965,418 in 2009.  Yet Goldman paid a tax rate of only 1% in 2008 by shifting it’s earnings to tax havens in the Cayman Islands.  (Ref.4)

          Goldman Sachs and the other mega-banks are not just making billions and causing millions to starve.  They are eroding the sovereignty of nations around the world.  Governments in the European Union are currently facing the threat of centralized banker control.  Italy has been appointed an unelected former Goldman Sachs employee as prime minister to impose austerity measures and privatization,. Municipalities in the US, like Detroit, face similar threats- emergency financial managers being appointed to sell off public infrastructure; or in Wisconsin town governments being eliminated.  This has been the status quo for third world “banana republics,” and now the bankers are coming for US. 

Ref 1. Wikipedia

Ref 2. McClatchy Washington Bureau 11-1-09 “How Goldman Secretly Bet on US Housing Crash”, and The Wall Street Journal “Trader Made Billion on Subprime” 1-15-08

Ref 3. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/full_list/

Ref 4. "The Nation: "8 Corporations That Owe You Money"". February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2010

Ref 5. The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and got away with it, by Frederick Kaufman, Harper's, 2010 July

Ref 6. Michael Greenberger Former Deputy Director (1997-2000) Commodity Futures Trading Commission on “Inside Job” documentary

Ref. 7. http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638

Ref. 8 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/23/lloyd-blankfein-why-goldman-sachs-ceo-hired-lawyer-reid-weingarten.html