Greg Smith resigned as executive director of Goldman Sach's European, the Middle East and Africa equity derivatives business, declaring his employer "morally bankrupt".
"...if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence...persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit... get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman...not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them...It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,”...the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, 'How much money did we make off the client? "
Smith unfortunately for all his experience and insider knowledge has failed to come to the realisation that his description of Goldman Sachs failures and how it operates is exactly what capitalism is all about - accummulation of wealth at all costs. He maintains a rose-tinted nostalgic attachment to the "good old days" when capitalism was honourable!
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