shitty sheep, roman tyrants, and goldman sachs is totes not spartacus here

Link from tzikeh: Goldman Sachs Senate hearing: live blog by Richard Adams.

This may be the greatest liveblogging of anything ever.

"You knew it was a shitty deal and you didn't tell your clients," Levin tells Sparks. "Does that bother you at all?" Sparks goes down the Reagan route in his defence: "I don't recall," he says.

Oh wow, this is delicious. I wish I could keep up with Levin here, who is greatly enjoying repeating the phrase "shitty deal".

Daniel Sparks is currently wishing he'd done medicine like his parents wanted him to. But oh no, he had to be clever and go work on Wall Street.

Also:

Watching people in a room leafing through bits of paper not exactly the most riveting TV in history since Frost-Nixon interview or Nick Clegg's last debate.

"Were you approached by Graywolf?" asks McCaskill, sounding like she's reading lines from an upcoming X-Men movie staring Hugh Jackman's father.

Otherwise, this is getting repetitive. Who's next? Mark Pryor, Democratic senator from Arkansas, who pokes Sparks again over the bank's responsibility to inform its clients about the bank's trading activities. But compared with Levin's bite, this is like being savaged by a dead sheep. In this case, a not very bright dead sheep.

Kinda in love with Levin, for the record.

Comments

[scy]

I read this and had to stifle my giggles at work. OMG, LEVIN.

SO AWESOME.

[tzikeh]

We're having a drinking game - 1 shot for "shitty," 2 shots for "I don't recall" or any versions thereof.

I'm very drunk right now.

[wrenlet]

How many shots for Sen. McCaskill referring to their brokerage fees/profit as "vig"? Because I LOVE THAT LIKE PIE (and would willingly get trashed over it).

[scrollgirl]

Sorry, but what's "vig"?

[wrenlet]

It's what a bookie charges for the privilege of placing a bet with him.

[scrollgirl]

Heh. Okay, that makes sense now, thanks!

[wrenlet]

You're welcome :D

[lydiabell]

AHAHAHA AWESOME. I missed that part.

[wrenlet]

I was giggling like a lunatic at my desk today \o/

[happydork]

That is BRILLIANT! Thanks so much for linking. :D

[seperis]

It was amazing. I kept quoting it out loud to one of my bosses.

[aella_irene]

But compared with Levin's bite, this is like being savaged by a dead sheep. In this case, a not very bright dead sheep.

Huh. Is the journalist British? Because that was the phrase used of Geoffrey Howe, who was Margaret Thatcher's Deputy Prime Minister-- an argument with him was like "being savaged by a dead sheep".

[tzikeh]

Yes - The Guardian is, along with the Times, the national paper of Britain.

[aella_irene]

Oh, right, I hadn't noticed it was being liveblogged in the Grauniad. *smacks forehead*

[tzikeh]

s'okay - I'm really drunk. :D

[seperis]

OH man, he actually links to that in the blog! *grins*

[aella_irene]

Howe made a particularly vicious speech against Thatcher, and my politics teacher used to pause, (it came just after his playacting of cloak and dagger) then say, "Well, the dead sheep bit back!"

[ilyena_sylph]

I am loving that man right now.

Did you catch the day he ripped the S&P and Moody's execs a new one?

Oh, lord, he was awesome.

[cookie57.livejournal.com]

I used to live in Michigan, and I kinda love Carl Levin too. He's a rumpled professor looking, really smart, full of integrity, liberal guy. I used to love voting for someone so liberal and so smart and I miss that now that I live in a much more red leaning state. *sigh*

[helene94.livejournal.com]

I know, it's awesome, right? Not Goldman Sachs, they suck, but watching (listening, in my case), to them getting smacked down by Levin, it is FANTASTIC!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

"Were you approached by Graywolf?" asks McCaskill, sounding like she's reading lines from an upcoming X-Men movie staring Hugh Jackman's father.

Bwahahaa! That is awesome.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting, though Sparks' reply that he felt that adjective was a criticism of his personal performance on this deal sounded true to me: most corporate environments I have worked in maintain a culture of fear in order to control their employees, including middle and high-level management.

And I have always assumed this is even more true on Wall Street where one is truly 'swimming with the sharks', as the saying goes.

This doesn't mean that I believe Goldman Sachs were honestly unaware of what they were doing: it only means that evil, like violence, is usually the result of fear.

Granted, it's hard to sympathize with the the job stress of people who make millions in bonuses, but that is a different matter, and I believe a much more relevant one than detailing yet one more tale of greed gone wrong.

So... an easy way to regulate Wall Street and corruption in corporate America?

Impose a limit of say... $200,000 maximum annual financial compensation, including bonuses, options etc. for everyone regardless of job title or industry. That will take care of all the overweening greed and corruption which are destroying the country.

/my two cents

Of course

[(Anonymous)]

I mean this would include everything such as corporate car, expense reimbursement terms, gym memberships, unusual retirement benefits etc. (all perks, perquisites, golden parachutes and everything else.. )

Bonus: most companies will end up with a much better bottom line (as well as more job openings).

[aurora]

"Were you approached by Graywolf?" asks McCaskill, sounding like she's reading lines from an upcoming X-Men movie staring Hugh Jackman's father.
OH GOD. :D