Posts Tagged ‘Financial Reform’

Do you think we are experiencing a Crisis in Leadership?

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

I do and would love to get the opinions of others.

And I’m not talking about just the Presidency or big name/high profile names like Fuld or Madoff or Lay.

I believe that we are experiencing a growing public lack of trust and confidence and respect for the profession because unethical and self serving behavior amongst leaders is so rampant.

This poor behavior on the part of leaders has developed from a widely adopted Wall Street model that says profit at all costs…at the cost of jobs, the environment, sustainability, the health and welfare of customers and the public…profit at the cost of what is needed to actually sustain life in the long run.

This narrow focus has and continues to pummel humankind and our natural resources.

Do you agree/disagree and from your responses I would like to move forward with discussions of solutions.

Leadership crisis? Yes/ No?

Goldman Sachs Viniar and others are LOST

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Regarding the Senate Hearings on Goldman Sachs April 27, 2010
I watched the Senate hearings re Goldman yesterday ; at one point Levin asked David Viniar several times to address how a “human” might feel or respond to being sold something that you(GS) knew was bad, sold under pretenses of a worthy investment and behind the scenes you(GS) were betting against what you were selling. Viniar kept talking in terms of the market, the client; using a language that spoke of another world, a world that he lives & believes in which is separated from real people. When pressed to discuss the transactions in human terms he looked positively lost.
Lost…Blankfein, Viniar,Tourre and countless thousands of others involved in a world defined by a commodity that has become so separated and distant from the underlying asset…life…human lives.
I believe that there was a time when Goldman put the client first…and humans were attached to that commitment.
Today they see their clients as amorphous faceless entities such as institutional funds, pensions, hedge funds…soulless entities that have long ceased to have a connection and a consideration of their responsibility to the bottom feeders, the original investors. They have created financial instruments that have no value other than various measures of risk; paper investments only. In the absence of sensible regulation an entire industry has been created that is fueled predominantly by greed.
Of course such a world would collapse; it has no intrinsic value.
Those guys are lost.