hunting for joining lloyd blankfein hunt goldman c.e.o. lloyd blankfein reportedly hunting for muppets so c.e.o. lloyd blankfein told partners in a conference call this week that he's scanning internal e-mails for the term up it and other evidence that employees refer to clients in a derogatory way yeah ok so he's going through everybody's email looking for a muppet sees in their bedroom he's in the bathroom he's examining everyone looking for the word muppet looking in the mirror lloyd blankfein that's the biggest muppet of them all you you the muppet the joke son you well two things first of all he's buddies with the n.s.a. i'm sure he could just call them and say i mean all the references from my firm and number to just look at the headlines around the world because that's what we're going to do and you can see muppets everywhere you look first headline the rich versus the see the thing maps is actually could call this the rich versus the sea then muppets in a remarkable column in italy's paper of record earlier this week the columnist

the real question is who comes out on top when it comes to the court of public opinion lloyd blankfein or jamie diamond first let's take a look at this is lloyd blankfein actually talking about why goldman attracts the cream of the crop can we get people who are really interested in. doing something. that they think is good for the for the public if you go to any place room the world is people did you do something more can shoot your money you have to live there which is yes i was there will you cause that. ok i think that those thoughts really show who's the bigger. you cause the crisis so yeah it's our fault jamie dimon but anyway i'm going to glassdoor dot com blankfein has the better groove rating on wall street as judged by his own words a whopping ninety four percent and you know this really goes to something that i've noticed and to financial crisis the difference in the way that blankfein and jamie dimon have managed their p.r. jamie dimon you see everywhere talking he's on interviews all the time he has no shame about the things that he says whether it's true that media or inv

lloyd blankfein is used to critics calling him a "money-sucking vampire squid"-- or worse-- but this morning the attack came from one of his own. in his "i quit" letter, greg smith, a mid-level executive for goldman sachs, said he was sick of a culture where clients were called "muppets" and employees were expected to "hunt elephants" by getting clients to make big trades that led to big profits for goldman. smith closed with this parting shot: "people who care only about making money will not sustain this firm or the trust of its clients for very much longer." "hard-hitting and accurate"-- that's how charles ellis, author of the partnership, the making of goldman sachs, describes smith's op-ed. >> goldman sachs had a unique, privileged position of trust, and it needs to rebuild the base upon which its clients can trust it. >> reporter: and ellis has some advice for blankfein as he struggles to revive goldman's reputation. >> pay attention to the real, real difficulties that are behind some of the rude remarks that are made about the firm and recognize that those problems have to be

inside information but he would buy his way out of any legal problems and he would claim like lloyd blankfein of goldman sachs that he's making the market he's adding liquidity and they would say well you just do so if you're a genius we won a stickler for doing something interesting because you are god but then of course because he shows the information the public. share of the press these vilified because he's telling the truth and sharing information with the public he's an enemy for the worst murdoch who truly is an enemy walks around with this big breasts slashing them to the sun sunday audience hoping you can score some transvestite somewhere in some dark alley that if you look like this right here if you're anonymous if you choose to remain anonymous. most likely you're the most valuable of the advertised to audience advertisers want that eighteen to thirty four year old male market that's the price primo thing that's why we're doctors have failed enterprise ok he failed at my space where people willingly give you information and data about themselves and yet he failed at that company

restraint training where you've got these computers that are program not to make a market as lloyd blankfein argues but to break the market so the program the computer to attack the market like a stick attacking opinionator they just attack it with hundreds of millions of trades per second to try to shake the candy out free money that they did no work for whatsoever is beyond even rent seeking it's just exclusion computerize extortion max another hacker is in the news we had anonymous hacking strat for here we have. james murdoch quits as executive chairman of news international so just like shaft for the bimbos that were hacked by anonymous here james murdoch has been hacking e-mails and in order to get the stories of bimbos around the world and now finally all of this information is coming out that in fact the trail leads right up to james murdoch he did in fact know about the hacking the eight thousand people on jerry mulcair is no plug and he was apparently handing over transcripts every single day of all these phones he was hacking they were gerry mulcair worked for a company called sou

claims to have no memory of slaughtering sixteen afghans where did you learn that oh dozen are lloyd blankfein and don't jamie diamond's of the world don't they say they have no memory of slaughtering the global economy well he's a smooth talker who defrauded an elderly ohio couple out of their savings according to finra staff sergeant robert bales was previously a stockbroker from one thousand nine hundred six to two thousand and he enlisted in the army shortly after federal financial regulators found he engaged in fraud breach if you do share your duty churning unauthorized trading and unsuitable investments the perfect training to become a slaughtering out of control maniac with a gun in afghanistan. brokers all about slaughtering people no we don't call it forgetfulness the term in the industry is called selective amnesia so you want to be able to selectively i mean asia about certain things that would somehow impact or bottom line the stuff that gives you more money of course you remember full detail i can tell you twenty years ago in great detail exact prices who the counterparty was hom

to see that the bottom of the ponzi scheme so i mean a million iraqis you know dead so to fund lloyd blankfein ponzi scheme must be to be honest about it and this guy this marine wherever he is afghanistan he lets kill some civilians to feed the ponzi scheme whether it's a defrauding couples out there or life savings or killing some kids in there you know bed at dawn it's all the same oh what happened. i don't remember that the green room called betrayed by me through a persona week i can't remember who got selective amnesia oh the yacht that i bought three years ago yes i paid forty seven million three hundred forty seven dollars and sixteen cents it comes with the spec and then it's back and i don't remember things brilliantly but about the crimes i committed for good but things never thanks guys or thank you max much more coming your way so stay right there. to your social implications. you pulled from the. light. on the good. video on demand. money the bill comes and says feed now in the palm of your. pushing on the dot com. mission. could you take three months for chargers. arrangement th

the bottom of the ponzi scheme so people but i mean a million iraqis you know dead to to fund lloyd blankfein ponzi scheme let me let's be honest about it and this guy this marine wary of afghanistan he must kill some civilians to feed a concious game whether it's a defrauding couples out there or life savings or killing some kids in their you know bed of dawn it's all the same oh what happened. member of that the green room call future persona we can't remember who got selected a new ship oh the yacht that i bought three years ago yes i paid forty seven million three hundred forty seven dollars of the sixteen cents that comes with the spec and that spec and i can remember things brilliantly but about the crimes are committed but things never thanks so much for the guys are. much more coming your way so stay right there. atomic clouds. turned. its intentions upon. rules coolly to the for. the two thousand and twelve your security. on the parties. welcome back to the kaiser report imax guys are time now to go to germany and speak with enda pendent a journalist or lars shaul lars walk into the

to see the bottom of the ponzi scheme so people buy me a million iraqis you know dead to fund lloyd blankfein ponzi scheme let's me let's be honest about it and this guy this marine wherever he is afghanistan he let's kill some civilians to feed upon these games whether it's defrauding couples out there or life savings or killing some kids in their you know bed at dawn it's all the same oh what happened at selective amnesia i don't remember that the greenroom call feature i made through a person a week i can remember oh god selective amnesia oh the yacht that i bought three years ago yes i paid forty seven million three hundred forty seven dollars and sixteen cents it comes with the spec and then it's back and i can remember things brilliantly but about the crimes are committed but all right thanks ever thanks for the kaiser thank you max much more coming your way so stay right there. its intentions. clear to the for. the two thousand to nuclear security. r.t. . room. go back to the kaiser report imax guys are time now to go to germany and speak with independent journalist or lars shaul lars

to the bottom of the ponzi scheme so people buy me a million iraqis you know dead to to fund lloyd blankfein ponzi scheme let me be honest about it and this guy this marine wherever he is afghanistan he let's kill some civilians to feed upon these games whether it's defrauding couples out there or life savings or killing some kids in their you know bed of dawn it's all the same oh what happened. i don't remember them the green room coffee trade group or so now we've. got selective amnesia oh the yacht that i bought three years ago yes i paid forty seven million three hundred forty seven dollars and sixteen cents that comes with the spec and that spec and i can remember things brilliantly but about the crimes they committed i forgot but all right space number thanks guys are. much more coming your way so stay right there. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you saw you don't. charge for the big picture. it's attention. to. the two thousands of nuclear security. on th

clouded public opinion in her it propelled and sacks we saw abacus we saw the vampire squid pieces lloyd blankfein grilled in senate hearings again and again on the hill despite all of those things that have hurt public opinion for goldman it hasn't translated to losing business according to media reports and here is someone on c.m.t. see today talking about this whole issue in light of this op ed the one thing i would take issue with in this fascinating amazing story poppy is the idea that they will lose clients because at this point they haven't even though most of the clients i spoke to are fully aware about goldman plays them and they still do business with them because they feel they have to so i asked the smith author of the blog naked capitalism and the book who i should mention she did work at goldman in her career back in the eighty's i asked how it is possible because one has not lost business through all of this and what we change that. i hate to say it it's because good remember goldman used to be the firm with a good reputation so goldman has basically as much as ever no goldman does

something that greg smith says in his op ed is that this is really deteriorated under the watch of lloyd blankfein and he calls him out by name question though if this is the broader ecosystem we know that making money is the number one goal and we've seen recent instances where it appears that people are willing to steal at least in the evidence that's been laid out in m.f. global right there was an investigative journalist i interviewed yesterday who had it by e-mail she did a story a long time ago about an executive at bear stearns all of these e-mails and he caving he was engaging in defrauding its customers essentially went on to have an executive position at goldman so if we have these instances where it looks like. bankers are willing or traders are going to go to any lengths does this result in kind of a death of capitalism because nothing's moving there's no circulation there's no no . oxygen there is no end of that circulation that you need for a banking system to work properly well we still have people doing a lot of trading but you're right the question is is this are these transaction

nobody is listen to me now maybe this will get people goldman sachs to wake up but frankly in lloyd blankfein as one page letter response today i didn't get the sense that there's any contrition anything that they're willing to change in what they've done and so i don't see much changing and i don't see the clients being in a position to force them to change no now from that response by definitely didn't seem like he was sorry at all or felt bad if anything they just tried to maybe not smear a greg smith but demote him to some low level employee that really didn't matter but you know i mean everything that you're saying it sounds so frustrating and so we know that we're being do you but we have no other choice but so in that sense you know is it going to take everybody to be willing to loosen money as they can and actually try to take their money out of these investment firms like robin sax is it going to take people like yourself people like greg smith to come out and speak out because it doesn't seem like government regulation is doing the trick that's not changing anything. you know govern

money it's going to be able to get a lot of get away with this for the foreseeable future if lloyd blankfein were smart though he'd you know take the bull by the horns and say to people this isn't we're not going to do this anymore this isn't right this is not we're all about and we're going to change our behavior starting now but i don't hear him saying that there's nothing in his letter that said that and you know i think they're just going to try to continue to muddle through this is best they can all right last thing which is another point that i heard some bring out today is that you know at least you see somebody quitting and in a public manner and you weren't going to see that in two thousand and nine because everybody was happy to have a job that some weird way is this a good economic indicator. well i want a great smith thinks he's going to get a job and wall street after this frankly obviously has got something else in mind i have no idea what it is but he's not going to work on wall street again after this this is the last thing that a wall street employer or a client wants to see

"squawk box" sun next. >>> lloyd blankfein wants answers. goldman sachs reportedly launching a company wide e-mail investigation or review following la week's scathing op-ed by a former executive. would you like a new ceo with that? that's the question. mcdonald's announcing a change at the top. we'll talk about it. plus trouble in china. weak manufacturing data giving investors reason for pause. it's thursday, march 22nd, 2012. and "squawk box" begins right now.

i want to read you a quick excerpt from a letter quickly sent to goldman employees from ceo lloyd blankfeinfect but where the firm has seen a problem we've responded to it seriously and we've demonstrated that i have to wonder about this greg smith that wrote this op ed. was he living under a rock? >> there are two distinct looks, the big bad goldman and the place should be turned into a not for profit charity and do good work in the community and hallelujah, they head into the distance. and then there is the argument that goes, as is in the financial times columnists this week, that says the people who sit at the table with goldman are not widows and orphans, usually, they are although risk taking gamblers in the market and all clients are not equal in that sense. most of the clients are traders and on the other side of the deals they do not need protecting against. now, where do i stand in this? somewhere in the middle. because on the one hand, goldman is perhaps perceived to be the biggest of the bad but fram, fr, if you are doing a deal, you want them on your side and you go into this w

goldman sachs ceo lloyd blankfein fired back, sending a memo to his staff of 30,000. "we were disappointed to read the assertions made by this individual that do not reflect our values, our culture and how the vast majority of people at goldman sachs think about the firm." william cohan, who wrote "money and power" about goldman sachs, says for an insider to do this is unheard of, but he's not surprised by the content. >> much of what he's written about was familiar to me and it's also familiar to their clients, who know that goldman does this. they don't like it but they know that goldman tends to put itself before its clients. >> reporter: some on wall street question smith's parting words. >> and i think that this whole epiphany concept is a little bit hypocritical because odds are things are not much different now than in 2001 when he began his career. >> reporter: the ceo of goldman sachs addressed the company's image in an interview with cnn's christine romans in 2010. >> we'll survive only by putting our clients first and the interests of the broader community

." >> thihis was after lloyd blankfein told us that they to the lord'work.is a coany that sold customers a product, a risky, complicated product, designed solely for a hedge fund manager who wanted to bet against it. how could you believe anything negative about goldman sachs? >> there is an ethos too much on wall street about being cocky and disdainful of your clients. to the extent that this s exposes that, this isseful. but like all things, it is more complicated. what happened at goldman sachs where they had a private equity trading where it was in their long-term interest to be nice to clients. then the traders took over. the business actually changed. >> from the colleagues of my son who went into this, i don't get the idea that the work is immoral, just that it is pointless. you make a lot of money, but in the end, it is not like y go into it because you loved it. it is for other things like teaching or medicine. that is why it isather soulless. >> see y

in a firm our size, it's not shocking that some people could feel disgrundled wrote zee lloyd blankfeint today, one disgruntled guy spoke louder than the world's most powerful bank. one london website offered a "star wars"

." >> this was after lloyd blankfein told us that they do the lord's work. this is a company that sold customers product, a wispy, complicated product, that was designed solely for a hedge fund manager who wants to bet against it. how could you believe anything negative about goldman sachs? >> there is an ethos too much on wall street of being cocky and self-interest and disdainful of clients. to the extent expose is it that, this is useful. but like all things, it is more complicated. they had a private equity business where it is in their long-term interest to be nice to the clients, and then the traders took over and that is a different proposition. they are just counterparties. the business change. >> from the colleagues of might son, who went into this, i don't get the idea that the work is immoral, just pointless. you make a lot of money, but in the end, it is not that you went into it because you love it is other things like teaching and medicine. that is why a it is rather soulless. >> see you next week. n$

to read you a quick excerpt from a letter that was quickly sent to goldman employees from ceo lloyd blankfeinwe are far from perfect but where the firm has seen a problem, we have responded to it seriously and substantively and we have demonstrated that fact. to the outside world, goldman sachs has long stood for unapologetically making money. i have to wonder about this greg smith who wrote this op-ed, was he living under a rock? >> no. there are two very distinct views that have come out this week. there are the big, bad goldman and the place should be turned into a not-for-profit charity and do good works in the community and hallelujah, off they head into the distance. and then there is the argument that goes as in the financial times columnists this week that says the people who sit at the table with goldman are not widows and orphans usually, they are other risk-taking gamblers in the market, and that all clients are not equal in that sense. most of the clients that they're talking about are traders and they are people who really, frankly, on the other side of the deals do not need prot

as if lloyd blankfein hasn't had enough controversy, now in the middle of a gay rights dispute.xplain what this is all about. >> mandy, i love this story. lloyd blankfein thought he could get heat but he probably didn't expect to get heat from those who are for it. >> corporations learned long ago that equality is just good business. and is the right thing to do. >> blankfein released this psa for the human rights campaign after being named the group's first national corporate spokesman. the hrc honored goldman sachs for its commitment to the cause. well, in the only file that has not gone over well with some. >> hrc dump goldman sachs. >> this weekend at hrc's annual fundraiser here, a group from the occupy movement called the occupy los angeles queer affinity group protested wearing hazmat groups and teaming up with goldman was "not the kind of marriage we're looking for." it appears blankfein and goldman are pawns in a feud between the two gay marriage rights groups as the occupiers accuse hrc of being too cozy with the 1%. finally, because we can't get enough of greg smith's

he lays the blame firmly at the feet of lloyd blankfein and gary coen writing when the history booksut goldman sachs, they may reflect they lost hold of the firm's culture on their watch. in a memo to employees, blankfein expressing regret over his assertion writing his views do not reflect our culture. what's best for goldman's bottom line, sometimes at the expense of clients. clients referred to as muppets by five of his superiors. me writes while everyone's entitled to an opinion, it's unfortunate that an individual opinion about goldman sachs is amplified in a newspaper. he and his president gary cohn go on to tell employees we're far from perfect, but we've responded to problems seriously and substantively. washington is already taking note, giving goldman's been harshly criticized over the past two years by lawmakers in the wake of the financial crisis. this afternoon, representative elijah cummings issuing a statement claiming the op-ed is a sign goldman hasn't learned the lessons from the financial breakdown. >> bethany maclaine, a contributing editor with vanity fair. but he

goldman sachs ceo lloyd blankfein firing back on the up a said piece in "the new york times" by a former executive who is blasting goldman's culture, what did blankfein say? >> well, he's expressing regret over the former executive director greg smith's assertion that the bank's environment is, quote, toxic and disruptive. in a memo to employees bank fine said it does not reflect our values and the culture a culture that smith said they are doing what is best for goldman's bottom line sometimes at the expense of clients. while blankfein acknowledged in the memo everyone is entitled to an opinion, he called it unfortunate that an individual opinion of goldman sachs is amplified in a newspaper. he and the president go on to tell employees we are far from perspefect but if we've seen a problem we've responded seriously and substantively. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> another big hot stock to talk about is apple, it looks like everyone wants to take a bite out of that company and as bertha mentioned, shares all-time high since its ipo in 1980, and analysts raising price targets an

the derivatives are the blips they destroy greece with naked credit default swaps hank paulson lloyd blankfein of goldman sachs think they destroyed great that another scarfing up and serving it up to the germans who are the local raj we're going to be managing these poor schmucks down there in athens while they get ready to invade spain greece tenderizing spain they're going to help spain oh excuse me they're getting ready to help spain. syrian troops are advancing on a key rebel held neighborhood in the city of homs as a government official warned the area will soon be clan's the city has been the scene of intensive fighting between the regime forces and the opposition for almost three months now activists claim hundreds of people have been killed in the army shelling while the government says its military action is tackling armed gangs and terrorists while the joint un arab envoy on syria kofi annan has vowed to pursue dialogue between it's a word and the opposition during his upcoming visit to the country and says talks between the sides are essential to end the nearly year long crisis art

the chairman of goldman sachs, lloyd blankfein, said today the allegations "do not reflect our values, our culture and how the vast majority of people at goldman sachs think about the firm." a florida woman had her own fight with a bank and this week we learned that lynn szymoniak will be paid $18 million for uncovering a massive foreclosure fraud. on monday, four top banks agreed to pay $95 million to settle charges that they used fraudulent paperwork in thousands of foreclosures. szymoniak discovered the scheme while fighting her own foreclosure. it was in 2008 that lynn szymoniak got her foreclosure notice. in the first court appearance, her bank said that it had lost her paperwork. the case wasn't going anywhere until the bank came back to court a second time. they found all of your paperwork more than a year after they initially said that they had lost it. >> yes. >> pelley: did that seem suspicious to you? >> yes, absolutely. you know... and what do you imagine? it fell behind the file cabinet? where was all of this? we had it, we own it, we lost it and then more recently everyo