Goldman's Consent Decree

Goldman's Consent Decreee.

Here is the consent decreee that Goldman Sachs agreed to in order to settle the SEC's suit. In it, the company does not admit or deny the allegations (standard wording) but does admit that it made "a mistake." Well, we knew that. If I take a walk on the bad side of town and get mugged, clearly I made a mistake. Goldman's "mistake" was to do something that provoked the SEC to mug it. Still, for the reasons I laid out here , I wish Goldman had fought the SEC in court. By capitulating, Goldman allows the SEC and the Obama administration more broadly to start taking us back to the mid-20th century era of feudalistic capitalism, under which companies are forced to act as the caring seigneurs of all their "stakeholders."And as for Goldman's attempt to preserve the distinction between committing a "mistake" and committing an immorality: naturally, it was quickly brushed aside by anti-capitalists such as the viciously anti-business Senator Carl Levin .

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