Free Republic

Goldman Sachs has abandoned a plan to buy a pricey private jet equipped with its own shower, ... in canceling the order for the shower-equipped model, Goldman likely forfeited a big deposit, with one industry expert estimating it was likely equal to 5% of the purchase price, or $3.75 million. ... The use of a private jet by Goldman CEO David Solomon and other top bankers has reportedly been a source of angst among staffers ... For decades, top bankers at Goldman were loathe to fly on a company-owned private jet — instead opting to assume fractional ownership in an...

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon demonstrated his social enlightenment in Davos this week by announcing that the white-shoe investment bank would no longer help companies with exclusively white, male boards go public—as long as its boycott doesn’t hurt business too much. “Starting on July 1 in the U.S. and Europe, we’re not going to take a company public unless there’s at least one diverse board candidate, with a focus on women,” Mr. Solomon said on CNBC Thursday. “We might miss some business, but in the long run, this I think is the best advice for companies that want to drive...

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Thursday that the powerful investment bank will only finance initial public offerings (IPOs) for companies that have at least one nonwhite male board member. Solomon said during a Thursday interview with CNBC that as of July 1 in the U.S. and Europe, Goldman “is not going to take a company public unless there is at least one diverse board candidate, with a focus on women.” “Diversity on boards is a very very important issue, and we've been very very focused on it and so we're trying to find ways to encourage that,” Solomon told...

Renowned Israeli biblical scholar and historian David Solomon last week said that conditions in Israel today are ripe for replacing democracy with theocratic monarchy and appointing a king. Speaking to Israel National Radio, Solomon said that the leadership and religious crises currently facing Israel mirror those during the time of the Prophet Samuel. Millennia ago, the people of Israel turned to Samuel to help them replace their form of government with a monarchy in order to alleviate the nation's problems. Just as then, many Israelis today might view a theocratic monarchy as a viable answer to Israel's "disastrous absence of...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 - Shortly before becoming chairman of the Federal Communications Commission nearly four years ago, Michael K. Powell said it was time to eliminate the double standard that allowed the government to subject broadcasters, unlike their competitors in cable and satellite television, to indecency and other speech regulations. At the time, Mr. Powell received a Freedom of Speech Award for advancing what broadcasters and civil liberties groups viewed as a courageously principled position. Now, he is being harshly criticized for significantly expanding the indecency rules. He blames a quest for higher ratings for the "increasing coarseness" of programming...