DETROIT, MI - Truck drivers shuffle around aluminum in a circuit of about two dozen Detroit-area warehouses in a daily exercise that would seem pointless if not for the fact that it is a shrewd move by investment bank Goldman Sachs to increase storage times and keep prices high.

It was all spelled out in a solid piece of reportage from The New York Times, called "A Shuffle of Aluminum, but to Banks, Pure Gold."

The Times says that Metro International Trade Services, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, stores 1.5 million tons of aluminum in 27 industrial warehouses throughout the Detroit area. It is required to move at least 3,000 tons a day, but almost everything it moves is just circulated from warehouse to warehouse.

Goldman bought Metro International for $550 million in 2010. Before Goldman owned the company, the average wait for warehouse customers to have their purchases located was six weeks. Since Goldman has been the proprietor, the wait has grown to more than 16 months.

Despite the apparent price manipulation, Goldman is not violating any laws.

The Daily Show's John Oliver took note, and after playing clips of a few politicians and talking heads weighing in on the issue, he likens it all to "a new version of monopoly where you just move the pieces around and around in a circle.

"And it's guaranteed that nobody's going to jail."

Check out the clips below.