Boris Galinsky's blog

Recently, Goldman Sachs became a main whipping boy of Wall Street. Most people have a very negative opinion of the firm, there are website - like www.godmansachs666.com, negative commentary directed at the firm does not seem to stop.

Matt Taibbi, a distinguished journalist, who also runs his own blog at www.smirkingchimp.com, published an article in "Rolling Stone" highly critical of Goldman Sachs.

Call it dumb, call it psychological phenomena, call it whatever you want - time and time again I encounter people who would benefit from the proposed health care reform, but who, yet, coming out against it.

My experience is not unique - this article on CNN website describes a man standing in line to get a free check-up from one of those traveling medical groups who offer free service, but who voiced his opposition to universal health care.

Last month Congressional leaders had appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans took their picks at nominating members of the commission, with Nancy Pelosi appointing its chairman - Phil Angelides, former Treasurer of California.

According to some reports, Mr. Angelides argued for tougher regulations and corporate governance reform - a position similar to a part of our platform.

Universal access to affordable health care is part of the Great Task's platform. It is our belief that this issue is of fundamental importance to this country, its economy and well-being of its citizens.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had a series of hearings concerning Bank of America purchase of Merrill Lynch. BofA Ken Lewis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson were called to testify.

This is the story - Bank of America management did not disclose material facts to their shareholders (and to the markets) either on their own accord or under pressure from the Fed or Treasury. This is a violation of SEC Act of 1933 and is a serious crime. Martha Stewart went to jail for less.

Here is an interesting youtube video from American News Project. Apparently, some of our representatives started to ask questions like - "what has happened to all our bailout money?", and "who is deciding who get what?"...

Opponents of the health care reform often claim that 83 percent of Americans are satisfied with their health care. The numbers are probably correct - most of the people are generally healthy. But what about the other 17 percent?

I am a big fan on "This American Life", and I would highly recommend everybody to listen to one of their most recent episodes - The Watchmen, which takes a hard look at mechanics of the recent/current economic meltdown.

George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” describes quite well the current level of debate in American politics. In the book any serious discussion among animals was stopped by the sheep who would scream “Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad”.

It is a little bit more sophisticated in the United States. For example, nobody disputes that “democracy” is good. “Spreading democracy” sounds good too. The result - we are ready to go and bomb the crap out of a country, so it would become “democratic”.

Today I was watching testimony of Ken Lewis - Bank of America President, CEO and former Chairman of the board - before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding the bank's purchase of Merrill Lynch in 2008.

(But first - a quick disclaimer. I am a former employee of Bank of America and I still have some unfinished business with the company in a form of Sarbanes-Oxley complaint against the company. For those who don't know, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 protects employees of public companies who disclose fraud and securities violations against management retaliation.)