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Goldman Didn’t Commit Fraud: Ackman
CNBC.com ^ | Barbara Stcherbatcheff

Posted on 04/27/2010 7:59:39 AM PDT by your local physicist

Goldman Sachs did not commit fraud and the insurance company that bought the product that is the subject of a government investigation should have known the risks, Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, told CNBC Tuesday.

“I don’t believe that Goldman committed fraud,” Ackman said. “(ACA) took their own risks.

They’re sophisticated investors.” “I don’t think the (Securities and Exchange Commission) has a good case,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: goldman
Show trial of Goldman personnel by Senate committee in progress at this minute on CNBC. Hopefully the Goldman people will state their case persuasively that nobody knew for sure at that time where the mortgage market was going and that emails quoted by the SEC were just opinions and predictions made by some Goldman employees at the time.
1 posted on 04/27/2010 7:59:39 AM PDT by your local physicist
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To: your local physicist

There are billions of traders who sell short...I remember hearing how it worked 40 years ago.


2 posted on 04/27/2010 8:01:15 AM PDT by Sacajaweau (What)
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To: your local physicist

Goldman cannot possibly explain to the sitting Senators what actually transpired. Might as well be Eisnstein talking to a retarded monkey.


3 posted on 04/27/2010 8:06:36 AM PDT by Murp (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Sacajaweau

If the case is weak, it certainly amplifies the suspicious nature of the SEC’s timing. Barryaire Obummer is using every trick in the book. What a totally political hack he is!


4 posted on 04/27/2010 8:08:26 AM PDT by downtownconservative
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To: your local physicist
The ones who committed outright fraud are the bond rating firms that gave these derivatives AAA ratings.
5 posted on 04/27/2010 8:08:39 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: your local physicist

Kangaroo Court now in session.

It’s all about leftist politics.


6 posted on 04/27/2010 8:08:51 AM PDT by Carley (I'll keep clinging to the constitution, my guns and my religion, thank you.)
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To: downtownconservative

I heard a guy on CNBC yesterday who said the political class in Washington is looking for a scapegoat for the financial crisis and is trying to pin all the blame on the private sector. The truth is actually that both the Clinton and Bush administrations artificially pumped up the housing market and the economy through excessive risky lending by Fannie and Freddie, and then some of the private sector lenders got caught up in competing with those GSEs. The federal government and many of the same people in congress who are criticizing Wall Street, are the underlying cause of the housing bubble and the financial crisis.


7 posted on 04/27/2010 8:14:12 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: your local physicist

I agree with you 100%. But the fact that Goldman may have shorted the MB Securities, knowing that they were weak was probably a wise hedge. What I don’t know is if they had a burden of disclosure regarding selling and shorting simultaneously.


8 posted on 04/27/2010 8:25:46 AM PDT by downtownconservative
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To: Carley

Levin seems to be beating up the Goldman guy because Goldman’s sales team wasn’t completely transparent when talking to its clients. But when is a salesman every completely transparent...lol? Does a car salesman tell you about a mediocre road test review for the car he’s selling published by a car magazine? Of course not. This is just belaboring the obvious, which is that salesmen aren’t completely transparent with their customers.


9 posted on 04/27/2010 8:26:43 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: downtownconservative

Now Levin is quoting emails that were just the opinions and predictions of Goldman employees at that time (because the future is always uncertain), and trying to make it sound like Goldman knew for sure that these CDO’s would lose value (because now, looking back at the past, what happened to the value of those CDO’s is a historical certainty). This is a great example of political deception being spun for viewing by the public.


10 posted on 04/27/2010 8:36:02 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: your local physicist

Are you watching this on CSPAN?


11 posted on 04/27/2010 8:39:51 AM PDT by downtownconservative
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To: downtownconservative

I’m watching it on CNBC.


12 posted on 04/27/2010 8:56:37 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: downtownconservative

Now we have a senator, I think she’s from Missouri, and she’s talking non-stop and not letting the Goldman guys answer her questions. One guy was about to make a key point that I wanted to hear about the construction of CDOs and this senator interrupted his answer. What a circus.


13 posted on 04/27/2010 9:49:24 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: downtownconservative

Now Levin is really beating these guys up and lecturing them sternly. It’s a bizarre display of political deception as Levin attempts to shift the blame for the housing bubble from the federal government (the primary underlying cause of the bubble) onto the private sector, including Goldman Sachs.


14 posted on 04/27/2010 11:13:10 AM PDT by your local physicist (Don't blame me. I wasn't fooled by anyone. I crossed my fingers and voted for McCain.)
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To: your local physicist

Bingo...and the so-called men at the witness table sit there like battered wives.

Sickening the way our citizens have been conditioned thru propaganda to believe that a man like Levin should be respected and feared.

He should be hung.


15 posted on 04/27/2010 11:17:29 AM PDT by roses of sharon (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)
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To: your local physicist
THE GS bet on shorting the housing market turned out to be a wise one.

However, there was some risk involved just as there is in any specualation. If the Dems' hoodwinking had NOT worked and the American public had not bought the MSM lies the market likely would not have sunk to such a degree as it did over fears that the Kenyan would be elected.

No bet is ever a sure thing. That's why it's called a bet.

16 posted on 04/27/2010 11:49:15 AM PDT by Siena Dreaming
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To: your local physicist

It rings hollow. It isn’t going to work. I’m glad the GS guys hung in there tough and refused to go along with the congressional lynch mob.


17 posted on 04/27/2010 2:36:05 PM PDT by downtownconservative
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