Goldman Apparently Wants To Keep Its Secretive And Unsavory Shenanigans Out Of The Public Eye And Settle With The SEC

I have no doubt from what we witnessed earlier this week that a trial, even a civil trial, could decimate Goldman Sachs in the court of public opinion. There have already been calls for its CEO to resign after a terrible showing in front of Congress this week. What better way for Goldman to ameliorate the problem than to pay some relatively trivial fine? They are minting money via extremely dubious activities and any settlement would quickly be forgotten in terms of lost money. Money to pay the fine, by the way, would be provided courtesy of taxpayers given Goldman Sachs is now a Federal Reserve-backed bank and with it comes the perks of free money and below market costs on capital.

If the SEC settles, there is likely to be an enormous backlash against the SEC by the vast majority of Americans. I don't know if the SEC can politically afford to settle. That would be very, very bad news for Goldman Sachs.

Link here.