Nothing New Here

American Scofflaw

Receiving taxpayer dollars from the US Treasury for their private benefit is not new to Goldman Sachs. In the 1990s, when the Mexican government defaulted on its bonds, investors at Goldman Sachs stood to lose billions of dollars.

They didn't. Buried deep in the subsequent $40 billion US bailout of Mexico was a $4 billion payment to Goldman Sachs, gratis of the US Treasury indemnifying Goldman Sachs against any losses on their investment in Mexican bonds.

The fact that current US Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson also recently used US funds to underwrite JP Morgan Chase's private buyout of investment bank Bear Stearns and is now proposing to do the same with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is to be expected. For investment bankers, using public money to privately profit is business as usual