GOLDMAN SACHS TOXIC GREG SMITH OP-ED

ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

THIS IS JUST COMPLETE HOGWASH AS THE MURDERER ARABS SHOT 250-300 ROCKETS IN ISRAEL IN THE LAST 5 DAYS AND THE EU SAYS THE ISRAELI SETTLERS ARE HARRASING PALESTINIAN MURDERERS.WHAT BIAS NONESENSE HOGWASH.THE EU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THEIR OWN AFFAIRS,KEEP YOUR AFFAIRS TO YOURSELF EU,ISRAELIS CAN PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST MURDERER ARABS/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS.

EU report notes huge increase in Jewish settler attacks 14.03.12 @ 09:30 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - EU countries' ambassadors in Ramallah have said Israeli authorities are not doing enough to stop a massive increase in attacks by Jewish extremists against Palestinians.The heads of mission in an internal three-page report dated February 2012 - and seen by EUobserver - noted there were 411 assaults last year compared to 266 in 2010 and 132 in 2009.The attacks varied from gunfire to throwing stones and garbage, including at Palestinian schoolchildren, as well as burning homes and mosques, killing livestock and uprooting olive trees. They caused three deaths and 183 injuries last year. Some 10,000 mostly olive trees were destroyed.On the other side, Palestinians killed eight Jews - including one entire family - and injured 37. But the EU report said there has been no widespread response from the Palestinian side.The EU diplomats depicted settler attacks as part of a broader Israeli campaign to get rid of the Palestinians, saying they effectively force a withdrawal of the Palestinian population away from the vicinity of settlements, thereby increasing the scope for settlement expansion.Some settlers follow religious teachings which say a greater Israel should encompass all of Gaza and the West Bank, the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, Lebanon and parts of Syria and Turkey, and that their actions will speed up the coming of the Messiah.Just 1,200 Jews lived in the West Bank before Israel occupied it in 1967. But 310,000 live there now in over 220 settlements, about half of which are said to be legal by Israel but all of which are illegal under the Geneva Conventions.

The EU report said over 90 percent of complaints filed by Palestinians ended with no indictment. The complaints are not easy to make because in most cases Palestinians have to go to police stations inside Jewish settlements and conduct formalities in Hebrew.Meanwhile, Jews and Palestinians live under two different legal regimes in the occupied territory - if a Jew throws a stone at a Palestinian it is treated as a misdemeanour under civil law, but if a Palestinian throws one, it is treated as an act of terrorism under military law.The report added that settler attacks are carried out by a small hardcore group. But despite its security apparatus the Israeli state ... has so far failed to protect the Palestinian population.An earlier eight-page EU report on the subject dated April 2011 - also seen by this website - said Israel has created an atmosphere of impunity for Jewish attackers, amounting to tacit approval by the state and proposed the worst perpetrators should be denied EU visas.For its part, the Netherlands declined to endorse the February 2012 paper, forcing the other 21 EU top diplomats in Ramallah to add the footnote: the NL [Netherlands] places a general reserve on the document.The Netherlands routinely scotches fellow EU countries' ideas on how to make Israel pay a higher price for what is going on. But the reports still have weight because they establish political facts which underlie behind-closed-doors discussions on the Middle East in Brussels and in EU capitals.Settler violence is a sore point with Israeli diplomats because it harms one of their central messages - that Israel is a normal Western democracy surrounded by basket-case Arab dictatorships.For his part, a senior Israeli official told EUobserver the leaked paper will damage the EU's image in the minds of the Israeli public because it does not devote equal space to Palestinian violence against Jews.It's unacceptable. We had numerous cases over the past year when Israeli citizens, including schoolchildren, were brutally murdered by Palestinians and I think for the Israeli public these reports would have more credibility if they were more neutral, he said.He added that Israel has set up a police task force to curb settler attacks and that Israeli leaders have spoken out in wall-to-wall condemnation of their actions.The EU report acknowledged that Israeli soldiers last year helped prevent assaults during the Palestinian olive harvest - a traditional flashpoint.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU MARCH 15,2012

09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM -16.01
10:30 AM +15.25
11:00 AM +12.61
11:30 AM +4.35
12:00 PM +16.25
12:30 PM +41.93
01:00 PM +38.18
01:30 PM +34.32
02:00 PM +35.54
02:30 PM +39.61
03:00 PM +39.70
03:30 PM +34.06
04:00 PM +58.66 13,252.76

S&P 500 1402.60 +8.32

NASDAQ 3056.37 +15.64

GOLD 1,659.00 +16.50

OIL 105.33 -0.10

TSE 300 12,455.82 +77.92

CDNX 1601.52 +7.17

S&P/TSX/60 707.66 +5.46

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +4 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -18 points at low today.
Dow +16 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,644.70.OIL opens at $105.54 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -18 points at low today so far.
Dow +41 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -18 points at low today.
Dow +41 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

NATURAL GAS-THU -64 BCF

Iceland considers Canadian dollar instead of euro
Today MAR 15,12 @ 09:24 By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - Iceland's Prime Minister Johanna Siguardardottir has said the tiny Nordic country faces a choice between using the Canadian dollar or the euro.The choice is between surrendering the sovereignty of Iceland in monetary policy by unilaterally adopting the currency of another country, or becoming a member of the EU, she said in a speech at the Social Democrat Alliance party convention on Saturday (10 March) in Reykjavik.A spokesman for the country's foreign ministry on Wednesday clarified that, for her part, EU membership is the best option.Iceland is expected to hold a referendum on EU membership early next year, but the euro-crisis has shaken confidence in the Union as an economic safe haven.For the opposition party which initially floated the idea last summer, the Canadian dollar could be more attractive than the single currency.Polls say seven out of 10 Icelanders want to ditch the kroner. But the population is split between the euro and the Canadian dollar. Surveys also show that just 26 percent want to join the EU.Canada's ambassador to Iceland, Alan Bones recently told its national broadcaster that Ottawa is open to discussing the issue.The banking crisis in 2008 crippled Iceland's economy and forced it to borrow €7.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders. It also wiped out people's savings and pensions. Its economy has since rebounded - the IMF projects 2.5 percent economic growth for 2012, while unemployment is down to 7 percent - but the banking drama is still being played out.

In early March, Iceland's former leader Geir Haarde was put on trial for gross negligence on the banking collapse.Meanwhile, the UK and the Netherlands say the country still owes them €4 billion. Iceland in an earlier referendum rejected paying back the money, causing a rift with the two EU countries.British Conservative MEP Marina Yannakoudakis in an EU parliament debate on Iceland in Strasbourg on Wednesday refused to back a resolution on Iceland's EU membership.The Icelandic government is dodging its legal obligation to pay minimum compensation to ... British depositors, she said.This story was updated at 9.40am Brussels time to clarify that the PM supports EU accession.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html (WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS)

AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

China central banker: EU is our biggest uncertainty
14.03.12 @ 08:55 By Philip Ebels

BRUSSELS - In a sign of growing confidence on the global stage, China on Monday (12 March) singled out Europe as the biggest uncertainty for the future of its economy.
The governor of China's central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, said that a slow world recovery process and the unstable economic and financial situation in Europe will be the big unknowns for China's economy this year.Speaking on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing, Zhou was quoted by Reuters as saying that the biggest uncertainty in the international economic situation, as we all know, is the economic recovery process, especially the European economy and financial market development relating to the euro sovereign debt crisis.The comment has sparked a mix of reactions from commentators in Brussels.It is amazing, says Pierre Defraigne, director of the College of Europe Madariaga Foundation and a long-time scholar on EU-China relations. I don't remember someone of such a high level speaking so bluntly.He says that the comment reveals a painful truth that European leaders are afraid to admit.The EU has become the main source of uncertainty in the global economy. We should be thankful to the [central bank's] governor for telling us that the emperor has no clothes on.Lin Goethals, programme director at the European Institute for Asian Studies, says that the comment represents a new phase in EU-China relations.It used to be the other way around,she says,Europe bashing China.

But ever since the financial crisis, and in particular since the EU saw it necessary to postpone an EU-China summit in October due to a rapidly deteriorating situation at home, the tables have been turning, she says.Honestly, I am not surprised. It is actually something China is really worried about.The EU is China's biggest trading partner. China is the EU's second-biggest trading partner, after the US. But relations between the two economic powerhouses have soured of late.The central banker's comment comes amid several ongoing trade wars including in aviation, public procurement and, most recently, rare earth elements.China's embassy to the EU, meanwhile, is eager to downplay the comment.Zhang Kening, minister counsellor for economic and commercial affairs, told EUobserver that there has been a misinterpretation of the governor's words due to a lack of direct interpretation into English.In reality, he says, the governor spoke of the world economy and the European financial situation as uncertain factors influencing China's currency policy.For its part, the European Commission at the time of writing had not yet heard of the banker's comment and was not able to comment.

WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnq5cQMiAB8&feature=related
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-are-already-under-global-government.html#links
DICK MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.
LORD MONCKTON ON WORLD GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHyMYEzRyf8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUUcb36a_4I&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA0xEM1KwG4&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7o1S4m5mCw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieC7HYC5cto&feature=player_embedded

EPHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

MOST OF THE HOSTS ON MSNBC ARE ALL FORMER GOLDMAN SACHS MEMBERS AND SOME ON CNN. ALL THE DINASOUR DUNG BEADLE MEDIA AND BIG WIG COPERATIONS ALL HAVE FORMER GOLDMAN SACHS MEMBERS.SO WHO CALLS THE SHOTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.OBAMA THE FRAUD MUSLIM OR GOLDMAN SACHS.GOLDMAN DOES.

Op-Ed Contributor Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
By GREG SMITH Published: March 14, 2012

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.

What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s axes, which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) Hunt Elephants.In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym. Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as muppets, sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.

It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, How much money did we make off the client? It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about muppets,ripping eyeballs out and getting paid doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.When I was a first-year analyst I didn’t know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what a derivative was, understanding finance, getting to know our clients and what motivated them, learning how they defined success and what we could do to help them get there.My proudest moments in life — getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn’t feel right to me anymore.I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm — or the trust of its clients — for very much longer.Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Rich Greeks and business to be special focus of EU experts Today MAR 15,12 @ 18:12 By Honor Mahony

BRUSSELS - Although some improvements have been made, tax evasion remains among the greatest challenges for experts tasked with helping Greece o administrative reform.A second assessment report by a European Commission team meant to assist Athens with internal change shows that while Greece far exceeded its 2011 target for tax collection - hauling in €946 million in tax arrears instead of the €400 million target - huge work remains to change a culture of tax evasion, particularly among the very wealthy.Outstanding collectible tax arrears are estimated to amount to €8 billion,says the report published on Thursday (15 March). It notes that tax evasion by high wealth individuals and large corporate taxpayers will be the focus of particular technical assistance in the coming months.Experts from 12 member states are helping out. Much of the help comes in the form of passing on knowledge in specialised workshops. Greek officials have been advised by debt collection experts from Sweden and the Netherlands, and by French and Danish experts on taxing wealthy individuals. Germany alone has around 160 tax experts to draw on when it comes to Greece.The European Commission is advising on offshore accounts - how to retrieve the allegedly vast amounts of Greek money channelled particularly to Switzerland.

Presenting the report, Horst Reichenbach, the head of the so-called taskforce for Greece, emphasized that that experts' presence in Greece should be seen as a complete expression of EU solidarity.But solidarity only goes so far. It requires reciprocal action, indicated Reichenbach. This implies actually implementing the austerity measures passed by the Greek parliament in order to secure the just-agreed second €130 billion bailout.Asked about the planned further salary and minimum wage cuts, Reichenbach said labour costs need to be reduced for Greece to make itself more competitive but also to appease the countries bailing it out.Euro countries who are poorer in terms of income per head wonder to which degree they should contribute to the efforts to support Greece and one has to recognise there is also in their population a need to give explanations.Therefore I think we need to be fair to Greece but we also need to be fair to countries who have gone through perhaps an even deeper transition than Greece, said the German official.Meanwhile the to-do list in the assessment report is a reminder of the extent to which Greek society, culture and way of doing business is being changed through its massive debt crisis.

The taskforce team is providing expertise on everything from registering land in Greece - it is difficult to do the firesale of Greek assets that creditors want because no one is quite sure who owns what - to setting up e-prescriptions, cutting the cost of medicine, introducing performance assessment of ministry officials, fixing waste management and simplifying export procedures.A lot remains to be done, said Reichenbach, adding the details of the yet more intense on-the-ground monitoring that eurozone partners want to see in Greece are not yet finalised.

Nobel laureates back EU tax on airline emissions
Today MAR 15,12 @ 09:24 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - Five American Nobel-winning economists and 21 other US academics and businessmen have urged President Barack Obama to support the EU's hated CO2 tax on airlines.The group-of-26 in an open letter to Obama dated 14 March accused the White House of selfish inaction which pushes increased costs onto future generations, and dangerously increases the probability of extreme events with major impacts on their welfare.We implore you to support the European Union's innovative efforts to place a price on carbon from aviation through the emissions trading system, or, at the very least, to stop actively opposing these efforts,they said.Because emissions are not priced, the world is wastefully using up a scarce resource, the earth's ability to safely absorb greenhouse gas emissions.The letter was signed by Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow, William F. Sharpe, Eric Maskin, Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims, two hedge fund managers from the New-York-based Kepos capital and professors from top US universities, such as Columbia, MIT, Princeton and Stanford.The US at a meeting in Russia in February joined 19 countries, also including China and India, in a coalition to scupper the EU tax.

It discussed a number of countermeasures, such as banning national carriers from paying the carbon levy; imposing retaliatory fees on EU-domiciled airlines; blocking them from operating new routes; and triggering a complaint procedure at the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN body in Montreal, Canada.Last week, Chinese airlines said they may freeze $12 billion' worth of orders for Airbus jets in a move which could cost its EU-based manufacturer, Eads, 2,000 jobs. China's EU ambassador, Wu Hailong, told EUobserver the government did not order the freeze, but said it makes sense for the companies to freeze orders themselves.This week, Eads CEO Tom Enders and the heads of eight other EU aviation giants, including Air France, British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa, wrote to the leaders of Germany, France, Spain and the UK also urging them to bin the CO2 levy.The aim must be to find a compromise solution and to have these punitive trade measures stopped before it is too late, they said.The CO2 tax came into force on 1 January, but airlines will not get their first EU carbon bill until next year. According to Reuters, extra costs would be some €2 per passenger on, for instance, a typical EU-China flight.Some analysts, such as Emmanuel Fages, from French bank Societe Generale, have in recent days predicted the EU will go for some kind of face-saving back-down to avoid a trade war.But EU environment commissioner Connie Hedegaard in her latest statement on the subject after meeting with EU environment ministers in Brussels last Friday Tweeted that: All member states repeated full support to the EU's line on aviation.The Union's top court in Luxembourg in December also ruled that the CO2 levy is perfectly legal.