Protesters take to the streets against Goldman Sachs

Published 10 June, 2010, 03:56

Edited 10 June, 2010, 09:06

Heat is coming down on both Goldman Sachs and the US Treasury over US government bank bailouts.

In January 2010, many called on Timothy Geithner to resign over government bailouts made to big banks from the New York Federal Reserve Bank, which had AIG pay insurance policies to banks in full and then
worked to covered it up.

The political radio show The Young Turks and its supporters have hit the streets of Washington, DC outside the US Treasury Department to petition for their money.

“Hey Goldman, glad to hear you're back. Now we want our money back” chanted Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks as he lead a crowd of protesters.

Other slogans further expressed the hatred the crowd held for Goldman Sachs and the US Treasury. The group demanded the $13 billion back that Goldman Sachs received from the bailouts.

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The group’s anger points at Goldman – but Goldman did not ask for the money; the New York Federal Reserve Bank actually paid out the funds to AIG.

“They made a deal with AIG. AIG’s responsibility is to pay them, not the taxpayer. I never made a deal with Goldman Sachs and at the time their market value was at best 20 cents on the dollar and Tim Geithner
paid them 100 cents on the dollar. That doesn’t make any sense. Am I
upset at the treasury? Absolutely! That’s why our first protest is at
the treasury,” said Uygur.

This particular mess began in January 2010, but the recent demand for action has arisen because it took lots of time to go through the evidence released.

Other banks also received funds, but Goldman is the primary target. Goldman Sachs has become the poster child of the debate.

More than 5,000 petitions have been signed, but few protestors have
shown up at events. Organizers say their supporters simply do not have
the luxury to drop everything and protest in Washington, DC and that
they hope to navigate their movement onto the Internet so many more can
get involved.