Yesterday morning, Chris Martenson told us that we’re being robbed by Goldman Sachs. Which prompted me to do some of my own research, whereupon I discovered that the real victims of Goldman Sachs all meet the following criteria:

Not a current or former Goldman Sachs employee

I know: you already knew that Goldman Sachs is the Devil incarnate, because you read The Great American Bubble Machine (loved it!) and then you saw some tin-foil-hat-wearing kook’s videos on YouTube, right? But Martenson’s account is not full of colorful metaphors or wild-eyed conspiracy theories (not that there’s anything wrong with either), instead, he paints the picture by numbers:

Trading losses [for Goldman Sachs] occurred on two days during the months of April, May and June [2009].

Goldman Sachs took in a whopping $100M+ in daily revenue on forty-six separate days during 2Q 2009. An entire financial quarter, and a tumultuous one at that, during which GS brought in something like $5 billion and only lost money on two occasions. This is statistically inconceivable, and lest you have any delusions about where that money is coming from, Martenson is quick to remind you:

the most probable source of these funds, the ultimate loser, is the taxpayer.

Shortly after the meltdown began, GS became a “bank holding company” which normally requires a greater capital reserve (less risk) and quickly received $63.6 billion worth of federal subsidies. The decision to become a holding company is particularly noteworthy because the Bloomberg article that Martenson cites justifies Goldman’s profits on account of their willingness to take risk that others wouldn’t. But their positions as a “bank holding company” should be less risky, what with the higher reserve requirements, right?

Wrong.

Goldman asked to be exempted from these rules, which the Fed granted without question. So in a time when they should be shoring up their reserves, and playing conservatively, they continue to pile risk on top of risk with our hard-earned money. And unless you know something I don’t, you’re not getting a dividend check in the mail.

To be fair, a number of other institutions (e.g., American Express) filed to become “holding companies” in order to reap a slice of the Bailout Pie. For what in God’s creation they are using these funds, is ultimately anybody’s guess. The only certainty is that whatever money they get, regardless of whether or when they pay it back, is corporate fucking welfare, paid for by you and me.

Indeed, the taxpayers are big losers in this game, a game that Goldman Sachs has completely rigged. We are underwriting their profits and absorbing their losses.

As I’ve said before, “the primary purpose of modern financial markets is to concentrate real economic power for the State and its beneficiaries.” None of the paper wealth which was miscast as “growth” in the past decade ever really existed. Every last bit of it, every hour of labor, every ounce of resources that we foolishly consumed/destroyed while perpetrating the growth charade was economically destructive. The rest of us understand this — and if we don’t, our bank accounts do.

What’s good for Goldman Sachs is good for Goldman Sachs, end of story. Everyone else gets boned.