American Idol, Goldman Sachs Edition
Ever wonder why Goldman execs don’t speak to mere mortals? The answer was hidden in a tongue-in-cheek Michael Lewis Bloomberg column, which he slipped this by everyone late night Friday.
Its an internal memo to Lloyd Bankfein, chock full of suggestions to improve GS’ public image.
This one was my favorite:
Each year, for example, Goldman Sachs might announce a grand national competition, much like “American Idol.” Finalists will appear before a national television audience to be judged by a panel of three rather ordinary looking Goldman executives. On stage they will perform various Wall Street tricks: negotiating with Tim Geithner, lobbying the Senate Banking Committee, designing securities that blow up, selling bonds to Germans, etc.
The winner receives a job at Goldman Sachs.
I suspect the show would not get great ratings, but the demographics would be incredible.
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Source:
Goldman Trader Shares Three Big Ideas With Lloyd
Michael Lewis
Bloomberg, Jan. 29 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aWwht2XAEt84
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January 31st, 2010 at 1:09 pm
“Morts” for mere mortals….hahahahahahahahah
January 31st, 2010 at 1:27 pm
The 1/15/2010 episode of “This American Life” (“Somewhere Out There”) ends with a piece called “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend.” The punchline to “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend” completely nails the point in the Michael Lewis excerpt Barry posted above.
http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1335
January 31st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Be sure to click through to the Michael Lewis link, then click on the three successive pictures linked by the phrase “three rather ordinary looking Goldman executives.”
Also the two successive pictures linked by the phrase “conscious decision to forgo muscle definition, along with your persistent hairlessness.”
January 31st, 2010 at 2:05 pm
“On stage they will perform various Wall Street tricks: negotiating with Tim Geithner, lobbying the Senate Banking Committee, designing securities that blow up, selling bonds to Germans, etc…”
that’s, too, funny..
Lewis learned well, who he was schooling with, after school.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/school
January 31st, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Let’s see what candidate would handle this one: Of Mortgage Brokers, ARMs, Attrition and Marathons. By the way, I have just added a Reference List to my economics blog with economic data series, history, bibliographies etc. for students & researchers.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Two thoughts…
1. What would be worse? Going through the process of winning on the show, or going through the existing GS interview slash intern gauntlet? Or, come to think of it, working for SAC Capital?
2. Could Cramer be one of the judges? Come to think of it, this might make a good Mad Money replacement show.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:44 pm
funny yes but…
anything you’ll probably ever think of they’re almost certainly already working on
stay tuned
January 31st, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Ghost of Arch Crawford comes in…dragging his “stuff.” Remember him on CNBC? How does this compare to Cramer? In some ways it takes in “Social Mood.” What is Quantum Physics….but still it’s cheeky…for those of us not watching the Grammy Awards to titilate the crap out there these days that passes for “information.” But, Why Not? Who Knows?
——–
“MARKET WEEK” for the Woo Woo! ( “SOCIAL MOOD”)
Reversals were not only evident in stock indices around the world. The precious metals also fell hard from their secondary highs of January 11 through Thursday, January 28. Gold topped out at 1163 on January 11, then plummeted to 1072.20 on Thursday, January 28, for a loss of 7.72%. But Silver’s fall was spectacular. After making its secondary top at 1892 on January 11, it collapsed to 1602 on Thursday, January 28, for a loss of 15.33%. The loss in Crude Oil was almost as dramatic. From a yearly high of 83.95 on the same January 11 date, the nearby contract plunged 13.72% to a low of 72.43 on January 29. All of this may be related to the strength in the U.S. Dollar, which rose against most currencies during the past two weeks, which means other currencies declined against the Dollar. The Euro currency, for instance, fell below 1.4000 last week for the first time since July. In fact, it fell below 1.3900. It is not that the Dollar fundamentals are so attractive, but rather because the debt situation in many countries within the Euro union are much worst than thought just a few weeks ago. The European Union may be in jeopardy as the credit rating of several counties is now vulnerable to be downgraded, another victim of the Saturn waning square to Pluto, in effect October 2009-August 2010.
Short-Term Geocosmics
This week will be highlighted by the second passage of Saturn square Pluto, which takes place on Sunday, January 31. This is following Venus and Sun in opposition to the Mars retrograde, which took place January 27 and 29 respectively. As we have seen in recent days, the focus of political and economic leaders has switched, with their full attention now on to the world debt situation. This is a perfect theme for Saturn square Pluto, especially with the Saturn-Pluto cycle in its waning phase (2001-2020), a time when debt is almost always a huge concern. This particular Saturn-Pluto square is taking place under a full moon this weekend. In fact, it is a lunar eclipse, which simply intensifies the themes of the other planetary signatures unfolding. It is quite possible that we could see several markets reverse their short-term trends now, or collapse in a serious free fall. However, the polarity and bickering between political parties is not apt to reverse. To the contrary, under such signatures, the divisiveness is likely to become more acute in the weeks ahead. And along with that, the frustration of populations who just want their government leaders to do the right things, and act as if they truly care about the welfare of the people they serve, rather than solely their own political careers. With Pluto in Capricorn, the collective psychology seeks a return to basic values of Capricorn, like honor, honesty, integrity, responsibility, and personal accountability. What they don’t want is the opposite—projection and blame of others, without taking on genuine responsibility for their own contribution to the collective angst, and the tendency towards hypocrisy where they say they believe in one thing, but then their actions don’t compliment their words. It seems lately to be a choice between two negatives: one party that always says “no” to any change, and the other that promises change, but then qualifies or reverses each proposal immediately afterwards to render it as a disappointment or broken promise.
http://www.stariq.com/marketweek.htm
January 31st, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Forgive me…I always liked Arch Crawford…and in the Soup of Prognostications is “Casting Bones” any different from the rest of the stuff we do to try to work our way ahead on the Info from US Govt. Statistics…or our local, friendly 401-K advisor who put us into DANGER ZONE?
Hey..apologize but I like to look at all the “Big Picture” going with Barry’s Site Theme. Not all of us are equal…but all views might need to be heard.
January 31st, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Aren’t these simulations part of the Goldman Sachs Super saturday interviews?
January 31st, 2010 at 7:24 pm
@bergsten…
Apologies for Mispell……….
TakBak
January 31st, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Well…there’s THIS….if anyone wonders what’s going on…what’s coming down:
Geithner: I Have Resources for Financial Stability Plan (It’s called TAXPAYER’S MONEY)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R_8t6UKv_0&feature=related
January 31st, 2010 at 8:05 pm
“I suspect the show would not get great ratings, but the demographics would be incredible.”
Very funny! That is laugh out louder.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:27 pm
“Ever wonder why Goldman execs don’t speak to mere mortals?”
Fear of indictment?
February 1st, 2010 at 10:26 am
“selling bonds to Germans…” – I’m loving it!
Greetings from Germany,
netfred
February 1st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
That’s not Arch Crawford’s commentary, that’s Ray Merriman.
I think the Super Bowl commercials could be recycled onto the Goldman show at say, 2mil/minute instead of 3? Also I know Town and Country has never advertised on t.v. but that might be a good starting point.