Someone explain. How does this happen? (Goldman)

[CoffeeCat]

Uhhhhhhhh...how does Goldman's revenue jump 46 percent from a year ago? Goldman
earned $3.44 billion in Q2 09. They even paid back all of the TARP money.

How'd Goldman make all of that money?

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10542642/1/financial-winners-losers-goldman-sachs.html

"Goldman Sachs said it earned $3.44 billion, or $4.93 a share, in the second quarter, rising from $2.05 billion, or $4.58 a share, in the year-ago period. Results included a charge of 78 cents a share related to the bank's paying back Troubled Asset Relief Program funds. Excluding that, earnings were $5.71 a share. Revenue jumped 46% from a year ago to $13.76 billion, the bank said."

[CountAllVotes]

1. biggest ponzi scheme ever

mark my words - I've said it before and will say it again - Goldman Sachs are a bunch of crooks that will make the likes of Mr. Madoff seem almost saintly!!

:grr: :argh:

:kick:

[AndyA]

2. Some people seem to think Goldman Sachs are crooks.

I've read reports that there are suspicions they are manipulating the system for their own profit.

It doesn't make sense that they could be so profitable this soon after a near collapse of the world financial markets.

I'd say an investigation is in order.

[dmosh42]

3. How much a gallon did gasoline jump? That's the answer!

They used that stimulus money on oil futures, in coordination with Morgan Stanley, and hedge funds. They cornered the market, driving prices with our money. They have been doing this for years, so they know the racket.

[On the Road]

4. They Made it Through Trading

Pretty much anyone savvy enough to get into the market in March has made a fortune. They just did it on steroids.

The flap with the departing programmer opened up some very interesting information. I don't understand the details of the data stream they were analyzing, or whether what they did was legal, but it certainly worked. I am assuming that they looked at electronic orders before execution and used that information to generate orders with their own money just as a daily trend was beginning. Probably not a lot on each trade, but huge volume and very frequent.

[CoffeeCat]

5. Did they use the TARP money....

...to make these investments?

If so...WOW.

And it would make sense, why the urgent call for the bank bailouts. Before the entire economy
collapsed, they needed to get in large amounts of cash and make these deals/investments.