tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post676299782513831539..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: From physics to Goldman to Y CombinatorSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-70508980194883205112011-07-05T03:39:31.980-04:002011-07-05T03:39:31.980-04:00Goldman was paying acute attention to its counterp...Goldman was paying acute attention to its counterparty risk. So GS already had collateral from AIG for the ABACUS deals, and owned credit default swaps on AIG itself, so there would have been minimal direct damage from a hypothetical AIG backruptcy. But GS couldn't have survived as a business-of-one, so without the bailouts to shore up confidence in the financial system as a whole, GS wouldTony Pannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-51047271360991099062011-06-30T22:07:01.169-04:002011-06-30T22:07:01.169-04:00GS's Buffet investment and the massively overs...GS's Buffet investment and the massively oversubscribed secondary at $123 took place *after* LEH want under and *before* the TARP's CPP. And, according to Senator Levin, GS was not particularly exposed to toxic mortgages. So, one wonders exactly what would have driven GS under unless the claim is that the entire banking sector would have gone under with GS being the very last bank to LondonYoungnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-75159844882957657632011-06-29T21:49:05.368-04:002011-06-29T21:49:05.368-04:00Goldman got something like $12.9 billion from AIG ...Goldman got something like $12.9 billion from AIG in credit fault swaps, which got the money from the Federal govt, and $10 billion in direct bailout funds.<br />The $10 billion was repaid, but the AIG bailout money never was. Without that, Goldman would've gone under. Which shows you the benefit of being politically connected.<br />Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps does a good job explainingJohnny Unitashttp://www.facebook.com/people/Johnny-Unitas/1275455555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-279071144551357052011-06-29T21:48:29.714-04:002011-06-29T21:48:29.714-04:00Goldman got something like $12.9 billion from AIG ...Goldman got something like $12.9 billion from AIG in credit fault swaps, which got the money from the Federal govt, and $10 billion in direct bailout funds.<br />The $10 billion was repaid, but the AIG bailout money never was. Without that, Goldman would've gone under. Which shows you the benefit of being politically connected.<br />Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps does a good job explainingJohnny Unitashttp://www.facebook.com/people/Johnny-Unitas/1275455555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-18781309939014804792011-06-28T19:14:22.586-04:002011-06-28T19:14:22.586-04:00Well, perhaps. But wasn't Goldman leveraged s...Well, perhaps. But wasn't Goldman leveraged something like 32-to-1 at the time of the Meltdown? It seems to me that if you operate under that sort of leverage ratio, it's pretty easy to make huge profits when circumstances are favorable, but also pretty easy to go "poof!" when they're not...RKU1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-72704635618812068462011-06-28T17:48:22.822-04:002011-06-28T17:48:22.822-04:00"I had a very strong impression that in late ..."I had a very strong impression that in late 2008 Goldman was about two weeks from going the Lehman route until the desperate Feds..."<br /><br />This means little. As Ace Greenberg has said the problem with the i-bank business model is that i-banks can't survive rumor. Goldman might have lost its credit overnight even with a GEICO balance sheet.MtMorunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-24465036305412956822011-06-28T17:34:03.317-04:002011-06-28T17:34:03.317-04:00I think they would have gone down like Lehman with...I think they would have gone down like Lehman without government intervention. But I do think they are better run than the other shops. This example of knowing their instantaneous firm-wide risk is just one example.steve hsuhttp://duende.uoregon.edu/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-27234830695787339782011-06-28T17:28:45.081-04:002011-06-28T17:28:45.081-04:00Well, I'm sure lots of the Goldman people are ...Well, I'm sure lots of the Goldman people are smart and all that. But were they all *that* much smarter than the Bear people and the Lehman people and the Merrill people and the Morgan people?<br /><br />I had a very strong impression that in late 2008 Goldman was about two weeks from going the Lehman route until the desperate Feds opened up the spigots and handed them almost unlimited RKU1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-70306459128814415112011-06-28T17:01:22.398-04:002011-06-28T17:01:22.398-04:00High M and high V. If only more Spanish and Spanis...High M and high V. If only more Spanish and Spanish American immigrants were like him.MtMorunoreply@blogger.com