Posted on 11/01/2011 6:28:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
That is the refrain you hear over and over again when MF Global insiders try to explain why they went along with Jon Corzine’s risky trades — the same ones that caused a crisis of confidence at the firm and, ultimately, its bankruptcy on Monday.
Mr. Corzine was at Goldman Sachs for nearly 25 years, rising to become its senior partner before being ousted in a boardroom coup in 1999. He was considered a bright, aggressive trader who had a history of making big bets that paid off. When he joined MF Global last year — after a decade in politics as a Democratic senator and governor of New Jersey — he talked openly about his ambition to create a mini-Goldman.
Being a former Goldmanite has long been considered the ultimate calling card.
But, in some cases, it has proved to be a liability: A series of blunders by former senior Goldman executives raises questions about whether Goldman’s secret sauce can actually be exported. Think John Thain. Or Robert Rubin. Or J. Chris Flowers.
“Those people walked around with halos around them. Myths have been created on Wall Street. Nowhere is the myth bigger than at Goldman,” William Cohan, the author of “Money and Power, How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World,” a 658-page volume that explored the firm’s history and culture, said in an interview.
But Mr. Cohan, pausing briefly, added that whatever myths might exist around Goldman, “Everybody puts their pants on the same way, one foot at a time.”
It is a lesson that some of Goldman’s smartest alumni have learned the hard way, none more so than Mr. Corzine.
His outsize bets at MF Global on European sovereign debt — many of which he made personally — proved the firm’s undoing
(Excerpt) Read more at dealbook.nytimes.com ...
Wow! They all need a daddy looking over their shoulder, even if they think they are kings.
The DJIA isn’t happy about something at the moment.
Without those, well...
Someone is going to jail for this: MF Global caught stealing hundreds if millions from customers?
I find this amusing (from July):
Bam recruits Corzine
“President Obama is desperately putting his Wall Street stock in an unlikely old buddy.
The beleaguered president has recruited former Goldman Sachs head honcho Jon Corzine to shore up re-election funds from the banking industry, which is furious over Obama’s financial regulations.
Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey who was blasted out of office by Republican Chris Christie in 2009, has attended secret meetings with the president and has been working on Obama’s 2012 campaign for months, The Post has learned.
The Democrat, who now leads Manhattan-based brokerage MF Global, has been tasked with scraping up the very little banking-industry support Obama can still get.”
My link above has additional info from last summer. Which really makes me wonder what the admin, regulators, and ratings agencies knew and when they knew it. And why Corzine felt so comfortable doing what he did.
“The Democrat, who now leads Manhattan-based brokerage MF Global, has been tasked with scraping up the very little banking-industry support Obama can still get.””
I think we have a clue where most of the missing money went.
I guess they never heard of the Peter Principle.
Comment from one of your links:
“Way to go gov. Cash all the checks quickly and I will see you in the Cayman’s. Snookered em’ all.
- Tony Soprano, New Jersey, USA”
LOL
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