Romney, Wall Street and Goldman Sachs

On Friday April 30th, the Washington Post reported on a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs by the Manhattan U. S. Attorneys office and a civil suit filed by the SEC against Goldman. Goldman Sachs is also the target in a Senate investigation into the financial crisis. The senate hearing examined “Goldman's role in the financial crisis. Goldman's bottom line could also suffer if the Senate, now debating reforms to financial regulation, adopts proposed changes to limit trading in derivatives and certain investment activities by banks, for instance owning hedge funds.”

It will be intriguing to watch how Mitt Romney will handle his close relationships with Golden Sachs executives in the coming months. And if Romney’s current attempts to down play his ties to Goldman Sachs, will accomplish Romney’s desire to deflect attention away from him, or if Mitt’s ties to Goldman will eventually lead to a Romney melt down.

On Wednesday, April 28, prior to the criminal probe of Goldman Sac’s hitting the press, Mitt Romney was in Grand Rapids, Michigan attending a fund raiser for backer and close friend Pete Hoekstra, Hoekstra wasted no time "disregarding the Senate hearings as nothing more than” political posturing”. Romney while in Grand Rapids, defended Wall Street stating: "And frankly, I don't believe in discriminating against anybody, regardless of the street they're from," he said. "You see, all the streets in America are connected, and scape-goating and demonizing individuals based on where they live or where they work is a big mistake."

The Detroit Free Press reported on the Senate hearing down played by Hoekstra:

“Carl Levin, D-Mich., the subcommittee chairman, said Monday: "I think they're misleading the country. ... There's no doubt they made huge money betting against the (mortgage) market. “Goldman "knew of Paulson's involvement in the selection" of securities, Levin told reporters. "They knew Paulson was going short."

Romney may find himself handling a political hot-potato due to his many ties to Wall Street. Romney attended a fund raiser thrown for him by John Paulson in Paulson’s Manhattan home. John Paulson is the President of Paulson & Co. Inc. and is tied to the Goldman Sachs debacle.

Romney concerned about “demonizing and scape-goating” Wall Street is no shocking surprise, of course, Goldman one of Wall Streets biggest players, had no problems setting out to discredit the SEC’s which filed civil suit against Sachs on April 16th. The SEC’s allegations against Goldman Sachs are as follows:

“The Securities and Exchange Commission this month filed a civil fraud case against Goldman, saying it misled investors about securities tied to home loans. The SEC says Goldman concocted mortgage investments without telling buyers they had been put together with help from a hedge fund client, Paulson & Co., which was betting on the investments to fail.”

Mitt Romney ties to Goldman Sachs doesn’t end with John Paulson. Muneer Satter a Goldman executive was a major bundler for Romney during his failed attempt in 2008. Satter pulling in “a total of $200, 000.00 from Goldman employees – the money is seen as an effort to position Romney in the 2012 run”. The money going into the PAC Romney started after ending his 2008 campaign”. Romney has pulled in another $22,000.00 dollars from Goldman Sachs. Not to mention, the additional moneys Romney received at the fund raiser recently thrown by John Paulson.

No wonder the DNC put out the recent ad on Romney’s and Wall Street-


Meg Whitman, Romney’s former Bain buddy served Goldman Sachs board, as reported on calaborfed.org:

“Meg Whitman got rich the Wall Street way – through scams, shady insider deals and mortgage-backed securities that resulted in countless Americans losing their homes and jobs.” “Back in 2001, when she served on the board of Goldman Sachs, Whitman was directly involved in the decisions about executive bonuses and mortgage-backed securities that are now cited as major causes of the economic meltdown.”

Romney’s and Whitman’s connections to Wall Street, as well as their unrivaled campaign spending, lead to a recent nurses protest in California against Romney and Whitman:

California nurses mock Romney and Whitman elitism –


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