Goldman Sachs are the Bilderberg's Bankers and are finally facing criminal charges. If it were me I would suspend trading, freeze all their assets and arrest and bail the directors until evidence is forthcoming as to who did what. Full story and exposee below. If anybody is planning to organise a Bilderberg counter conference or similar in Spain in 6 weeks or so please let me know. many thanks Tony www.bilderberg.org www.thisweek.org.uk www.911forum.org.uk
Another intresting story in today's Mail: 'Noah's Ark' remains discovered 12,000ft up a Turkish mountain, evangelical archaeologists claim. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269165/Noahs-Ark-discovered-4-800-years--4-000m-mountain-Turkey.html 'It is like a cult, and working for Goldman is like being part of a cult - you are completely brainwashed into the Goldman Sachs way.' The Moonies of Mammon: A damning insight into the beleaguered cult of secrecy that is Goldman Sachs By Zoe Brennan - Daily Mail - 27th April 2010 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1269057/Goldman-Sachs-fraud-Damning-insight-beleaguered-cult-secrecy.html As the Goldman Sachs employees filtered through the grand doors of the banking behemoth's lavish London office last week, the atmosphere was unusually hushed. Famously known as 'the haves and the have-yachts' for their amazing bonus-fuelled lifestyles, the brokers, dealers and traders sat quietly at their desks. They were still absorbing the news that the Wall Street giant and its London-based broker Fabrice Tourre - who, in true banker fashion, calls himself The Fabulous Fab - had been charged by U.S. authorities with a £650million fraud. Prime Minister Gordon Brown had joined the outcry against the bank - known as Goldmine Sachs, or The Machine - accusing it of 'moral bankruptcy'. Furthermore, it has been reported, the company had helped the Greek government to get around EU rules, allowing the country to continue overspending while hiding its debt. And it was revealed that Goldman was an underwriter and an investor in the vast refinancing of the troubled Lloyds Banking Group late last year - a potentially dangerous conflict of interest. Emails from the bank which have been made public revealed Goldman in an even worse light, as executives boasted they were making 'serious money' while millions of homeowners were plunged into misery by the housing crash. In one email, U.S. chief executive Lloyd Blankfein admitted that the bank had gambled on the market falling - even though this appears to contradict earlier denials by Goldman Sachs. Lloyd Blankfein claimed that he personally had 'attained perfection' 'Of course, we didn't dodge the mortgage mess,' his email said. 'We lost money, then we made more than we lost because of the shorts,' referring to the practice of shorting, or betting against an investment. Another email, from Fabrice Tourre, said the money-losing investments he sold were 'like Frankenstein turning against Frankenstein's monster'. Today, seven senior executives - including Mr Blankfein and Fabrice Tourre - are to be questioned in a Senate hearing in Washington. Concern over the outcome of that hearing is palpable throughout the workforce - not least because the annual bonus round is coming up, and Goldman Sachs is expected to pay out $5billion this year. All of which explains why, as they sipped their morning coffees, the staff knew that Monday last week was not a day for the customary swaggering. Soon, lights began to blink on internal phones. A voicemail message to all staff had arrived from Lloyd Blankfein. Fabrice Tourre has been charged by U.S. authorities with a £650million fraud He was the man who recently said that the bank did 'God's work' by 'helping companies to grow by helping them to raise capital [which] allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose'. He also claimed that he personally had 'attained perfection'. My source at the bank tells me that the divine ambassador was slightly more subdued this week in his message, recorded before the markets opened. 'It was a circle the wagons pep talk,' says an analyst at the institution, who would speak to the Mail only in confidence. 'He calls [these speeches] "mind bullets". He reminded us of the Goldman way: we are the best, and we always, always put our clients first - which is why we are the best.' Blankfein - who is presiding over one of the bank's most profitable eras in history, began: 'This is Lloyd, on Sunday in New York.' With magnificent understatement, he said that the furore over the allegations of fraud was 'uncomfortable, but given the anger directed at the financial services, not completely surprising'. He ended with something of a battle cry: 'We have faced challenges before and our people have always responded through their skills, talent and focus on our clients. 'We will do that now, and in the process, re-affirm everything that defines Goldman Sachs.' The message was clear: Goldman Sachs is unbowed. As ever, its self- interests justify all - never mind the impact on the wider financial system. The biggest predators in the financial jungle would emerge unscathed. Just what is this institution, then, that believes it can shrug off the official hand on its shoulder? Who are these bankers who play God? And are they about to be cast out of heaven? To answer these questions, we have to go back to the beginning and discover what made Goldman - as historian Charles Ellis describes in his book The Partnership - 'the most powerful and most dynamic organisation in the history of finance'. 'Goldman Sachs employees would sell their grandmother if the company required it' Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 by German immigrant Marcus Goldman, who had worked as a peddler from a horse-drawn cart when he first arrived in New York. His fortunes soon improved, however, and in 1882, Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm, which pioneered new business techniques. It joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1896. In the early 20th century, Goldman became one of the first companies to recruit top graduates from the new business schools. The company was hit badly by the 1929 Wall Street crash - but soon, a mighty bank emerged from the ashes of the Depression. This 'new' Goldman was driven by a 'long-term greedy' philosophy: if money was made over the long term, short-term trading losses could be written off. This strategy was backed by a work ethic that still exists - during the Seventies, most ordinary bankers began work at 9am. At Goldman Sachs, under the stewardship of the workaholic Gus Levy, every employee was at his desk before 7am. The bank was handling big money and by the Eighties, Goldman Sachs men - and they were almost entirely men - epitomised the world of Tom Wolfe's novel Bonfire Of The Vanities. Wolf coined the phrase Master of the Universe for his anti-hero, bond trader Sherman McCoy, who lived an opulent Manhattan lifestyle with his trophy wife, until his house of cards tumbled down. A rare visitor describes the scene at the company's 50th-floor trading office in One New York Plaza, saying: 'A sea of twenty and thirty- somethings in pink and blue button-down shirts huddle around screens, discussing strategies. 'In a small back office, a bald trader with sleeves rolled to his elbows hovers over a table of men at computers, repeatedly slapping his hand with a wooden cricket bat. 'They don't seem superhuman exactly, just singularly focused.' The entrance to the bank's London office is at Peterborough Court, 133 Fleet Street. An in-and-out driveway allows visitors to leave the bustle of the City behind them and enter Goldman's reception. Up a flight of escalators is the trading floor, with around 700 chairs. This is where the profits are made. 'I was expecting it to be manic, but actually it was very quiet,' ,' says one former employee. 'It is like a cult, and working for Goldman is like being part of a cult - you are completely brainwashed into the Goldman Sachs way.' Thirteen-hour days start before 6.30am, and most staff are young - partners earn enough to retire by the age of 40. The company is characterised by an extraordinary culture of secrecy. Another former employee tells me: 'No one on the inside will speak out. We were trained to be part of a team, and not to push ourselves forward as individuals. 'The firm thrives on the fact that it is a club: an elite. Over and over again we repeated: we are the best of the best. 'You are made to feel you are entitled to success. It is the most incredibly driven atmosphere. You become addicted to the adrenaline, to the arrogance and to belonging. 'Goldman Sachs employees would sell their grandmother if the company required it. 'It is like a cult, and working for Goldman is like being part of a cult - you are completely brainwashed into the Goldman Sachs way.' Regular 'class reunions' for those who joined the company at the same time ensure a strong alumni culture is maintained. Another former employee - who worked trading bonds for the bank in London, Tokyo and New York for nine years until 2004 - tells me: 'People used to joke that it was almost like joining the Mormons. 'I went through 70 interviews to get the job, including one in New York. 'The Goldman way is knocked into you during the training; it is incredibly intensive. You learn you are not an individual, but part of a team - the best team.' Having left at the age of 33, because he was wealthy enough to retire, he says: 'My theory is that Goldman's actively hires overachieving, insecure people, who want to do a good job and be liked, so they go on to work incredibly hard and become very committed. 'It helps that you are paid telephone-number amounts of money.' John Rogers, Goldman chief of staff, says: 'People say: "What's the secret sauce?" Well, one of the most important ingredients in the sauce is the culture.' The firm's culture has been compared, variously, to the Army, the KGB, the Mafia and - as we have heard - to a cult. Staff tend to socialise together, live in the same Manhattan apartment buildings and have summer homes around the same ponds in the Hamptons. Goldman Sachs might be about to find out that the wheels have fallen off The Machine In London, they live in a select number of Chelsea streets around the exclusive area of The Boltons, and send their children to the same private schools. Fitting in is of the utmost importance. Subtle social tics - a bow tie, moustache, colourful personality - can eliminate you from the club. 'The cult of the individual, which I think has been a disadvantage to so many of the firm's competitors, really doesn't exist here,' says Lucas van Praag, the British-born communications director. 'The more you have acceptance, the easier it is to be effective.' As another Wall Street veteran puts it: 'The god is Goldman. You subjugate yourself to that god, and in return we will make you a gazillionaire.' The Goldman way is enshrined in a set of 14 totemic principles written in the Seventies, and reprinted in every annual report. Employees have to learn them by heart, and are encouraged to recite them before going to sleep each night. Number one is: 'Our clients' interests always come first.' Other mantras include: 'We have yet to find the limits to the responsibility that our best people are able to assume.' Or: 'To breach a confidence would be unthinkable.' Another again asserts the belief that Goldman employees are better than mere mortals. It reads: 'Although our activities are measured in billions of dollars, we select our people one by one. Without the best people, we cannot be the best firm.' Ironically, it is this outlook that could lead to the firm's downfall. Its critics believe the bank has become overwhelmingly arrogant. Indeed, one partner spelt out this process to author Charles Ellis: 'We had always been the best - always the top students and the best athletes and the class leaders. 'And now we were the best firm - in our self-appraisal. But that was the first step towards arrogance.' As well as constantly asserting that its employees are the best, Goldman Sachs also sets itself up as their surrogate family. The junior partners are told to go to every employee's major life events - marriages, funerals, bar mitzvahs. In return, absolute loyalty to the firm is expected. The hours are long, and spouses and children pay a price - no one takes their full holiday entitlement because this would be frowned on - but the financial rewards are huge. Goldman Sachs gives the biggest bonuses in banking. Basic salaries are capped at £300,000 - the bulk of pay is performance related. In good years, the average employee is given a bonus of around £400,000. Many receive £1million, but the big players can easily collect several million. Blankfein rewarded himself with the highest payouts in Wall Street history, $53million in 2006 and $68million in 2007. Quite simply, making money is the foremost principle at Goldman Sachs. The company ethos is a clean-living one: I spoke to one trader who told me that, unlike other cocaine-fuelled banking firms, drug taking is a complete no-no at Goldman's. In the offices, gigantic, communal bowls of fresh fruit are laid out every morning. The really big earners - Wolfe's Masters of the Universe - have their own personal assistants. One recalls her everyday tasks: picking up dry- cleaning, buying stamps, paying gardeners, shopping for Christmas presents. A compensation for Goldman Sachs widows - the nickname for bankers' wives because they see so little of their husbands - is that many of their household chores are taken care of. One PA was even asked to help out with her boss's children's school project. Flouting wealth in the office is discouraged - Goldman employees are expected to be modest. Clearly, this ethos had slipped rather in the London office. Last week, the Mail revealed that Tetsuya Ishikawa, a banker who worked on the controversial fund set up by Fabrice Tourre, lived high on the hog. He admitted that on his regular jaunts abroad, 'the first thing I asked was: "Where is the brothel?" ' He also wrote a novel based on his time at Goldman - and described a world where bankers drove only Ferraris or Lamborghinis because 'Porsches were for the commoners'. The excess of Goldman employees was also revealed in the notorious case of Joyti De-Laurey, a former secretary at the bank, who was convicted in 2004 of stealing £4million from her bosses and spending it on hotels and jewellery. 'They made it so easy, they deserved it,' she said at the time. 'Their money was just left lying about: if it wasn't for me, it would have been someone else.' The backlash against the bank - which seems to have mopped up the financial crisis to its own gain - has intensified with the latest revelations. So just how is Goldman Sachs handling the criticism and the investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission? A London employee says: 'At first, we were all in shock. Now people are angry. We work very hard, and we do believe we are the best at what we do - which is making money, lots of money. 'We've been told to go back to our core principles, and fight this latest attack. That is what we will do.' Given that those core principles seem largely based on arrogance and greed, Goldman Sachs might be about to find out that the wheels have fallen off The Machine. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1269057/Goldman-Sachs-fraud-Damning-insight-beleaguered-cult-secrecy.html -- Please consider seriously the reason why these elite institutions are not discussed in the mainstream press despite the immense financial and political power they wield? There are sick and evil occultists running the Western World. They are power mad lunatics like something from a kids cartoon with their fingers on the nuclear button! Armageddon is closer than you thought. Only God can save our souls from their clutches, at least that's my considered opinion - Tony You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PEPIS" group. Please feel free to forward it to anyone who might be interested particularly your political representatives, journalists and spiritual leaders/dudes. 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