By MN Gordon
One and the Same
“God gave me my money.”
– John D. Rockefeller
Today we step away from the economy and markets and endeavor down the path less traveled. For fun and for free, we wade out into a smelly peat bog. There we scratch away the surface muck in search of what lies below.
One should actually be careful about quotes like the one attributed to Rockefeller above, even if it of course sounds good and is very suitable for the topic at hand. In reality he probably said something like it, but it is almost certain he didn’t say it verbatim (contrary to Mr. Blankfein, who is indeed on record for stating that Goldman Sachs was “doing God’s work”). We mention this because we have long noticed that the best-known quotes attributed to all sorts of long dead famous people – the ones one immediately finds on the first page that pops up when googling their names – are more often than not either garbled beyond recognition, or misattributed, or at times even completely made up. A genuine quote is a rare find indeed; at a minimum the most famous quotes have almost always gone through the Chinese horse-whisperer treatment (known as “telephone” in the US). What Mr. Dunne said about Rockefeller is rather more certain, since he put it in writing in the Chicago Evening Post in 1895 – albeit in his “Mr Dooley” voice, imitating an Irish accent. Dooley was a figure Dunne had invented for his satirical columns, the fictional owner of a fictional Irish pub located on the South Side of Chicago (so the quote actually read: “He’s kind iv a society f’r the previntion of croolty to money…”, etc.). [PT]
Our unwitting inspiration is none other than long time Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. The journey that follows was prompted by word he’s preparing to step down as CEO. One account said this could happen by the end of the year. Indeed, times like these are times for honest reflection and celebration.
If you recall, in the fall of 2009, not long after warm rays of sunshine began smiling down upon this bull market, Goldman Sachs’ top man, Lloyd Blankfein had an epiphany. The way he put it to The Times of London was that he’s just a banker doing “God’s work”. At the time we weren’t sure what Blankfein was getting at. Were you?
Perhaps he was elevating himself, and his firm’s business, to the noble and thankless cause of efficiently allocating capital to its highest and best use. As best we can tell, Blankfein implied that this was, somehow, the work of God. And by Blankfein’s rationale, the work of God and the work of Goldman are one in the same.
The Times of London may not have been convinced by Blankfein’s claim. The article did clarify that Goldman Sachs “…makes money by charging hefty fees to the companies and clients it advises and whose assets it manages – typically 2-4 percent. …read more
Source:: Acting Man
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