(2009-06-09) Taibbi Paulson Anti Hero

Matt Taibbi does not consider Henry Paulson to be a national hero. I found out that Evan Newmark did, indeed, work for Goldman Sachs. I find it funny that a business journalist has to disclose if he's invested in this or that stock, or short this or that security, before a newspaper will allow him to have an opinion about anything even distantly related to that company - but you don't need to disclose anything if all you're doing is kissing your former boss's ass. Can you imagine what a craven, bumlicking ass-goblin you'd have to be to get a job working for the Wall Street Journal, not mention up front that you used to be a Goldman Sachs managing director, and then write a lengthy article calling your former boss a "national hero" - in the middle of a sweeping financial crisis, one in which half the world is in a panic and the unemployment rate just hit a 25-year high?.. Exactly what part of Paulsons record is heroic, Evan? The part where he called up SEC director William Donaldson in 2004 and quietly arranged to get the state to drop capital requirements for the country's top five investment banks? You remember that business, right, Evan? Your hero Paulson met with Donaldson and got the rules changed so that Goldman and four other banks no longer had to abide by the old restrictions that forced banks to actually have a dollar or two on hand for every ten or so they lent out. After that, it was party time! Bear-Stearns in just a few years had a debt-to-equity ration of 33-1! Lehman's went to 32-1.