Goldman Sachs group is one of the leading global investment bankers and a security firm which deals with securities, management of personal and corporate investments, investment banking and a lot of other financial services. After the events over the past few years the firm has emerged as the leader in investment banking. This has created a lot of envy for people both on Wall Street and on Main Street. Other banks on Wall Street are jealous of Goldman’s success, and people on Main Street are furious that Goldman is reporting record profits while unemployment hovers close to 10%. Goldman has been the subject of many controversies, and many conspiracy series some of which are absolutely absurd. To add fuel to the fire, Goldman has been accused by the SEC of setting up credit derivates for John Paulson to short, which were then sold to investors to purchase. The lawsuit is still pending, however it has further added to the public furor against the firm.
The public did not get over the harrowing financial crisis and this boiling hatred aimed at Goldman Sachs until very recently when Goldman was bailed out by British Petroleum. Goldman Sachs which was public enemy number one has now been replaced by BP.
Since the oil rig explosion on April 20th, millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill has caused enough damage to the environment and the marine life. The oil spill was so toxic that it left trails of destruction and damage. Aquatic life was severely affected with millions of fish, turtles and dolphins lying dead. The water had become contaminated and this endangered ocean vegetation. The oil spill also resulted in thousands of people abandoning the shores and other coastal areas as life on the shore has become intolerable.
The spill out has caused a big rage amongst people against BP, and the Government for the lack of response. There have been calls for boycotts of BP gas stations. A group on facebook calling for a boycott of BP gas has almost one million members. BP gas stations have been vandalized, and some owners of BP stations have been forced to change their gas station’s name. This is despite the fact that BP owns just a fraction of the gas stations. In addition, the alternatives are no better since Citgo is Venezuelan; Exxon gets a significant amount of gas from Saudi Arabia, and other not so friendly nations. This is an example of the lynch mob mentality that existed with Goldman Sachs. People focused all their anger on Goldman, while ignoring all the abuses of the other financial firms involved in the subprime crisis.
For now Goldman is almost entirely out of the spotlight. A look at Google trends shows a dramatic decrease for searches of Goldman Sachs since the RIG exploded.
On the other hand interest in BP has skyrocketed.
Americans always love to hate a corporation. When the trade deficit was growing Walmart was the most hated company. When oil prices skyrocketed, "big oil" was public enemy #1. When the AIG bonus crisis occurred last year their employees received death threats. Then for several months, Goldman was being blasted from all fronts. Now it is BP's turn to take the brunt of the media, and the public. It remains to be seen how long this will last for. However, one thing seems certain, Lloyd Blankfein is sitting back in his comfortable New York City penthouse watching coverage of the spill with a big smile.
Disclosure: Long BP
