Does Goldman Sachs Run the World?.
16 Jan 2012
The Student political society New Turn gathered at the University of London Union on the 12th of January to debate the proposition: “Goldman Sachs rules the world.” seeking to expand on the argument infamously made by Alessio Rastani’s on the BBC news.
Alessio himself and Sean Donen, an aspiring Liberal Democrat campaigner spoke on behalf of the proposition , standing against them Brian Carney a writer for the Wall Street Journal and self-confessed libertarian and an Oxford art student Jo Bates .
Sean Donen argued that we may assume politics is synonymous with power but that is becoming less true every day . He argued that,in the wake of the financial crisis politicians are seeking more alliances with big business,and he claimed they are “ becoming more enslaved by investment banks.” He pointed to the example of Mario Monti, a former employee of Goldman Sachs, who is literally running Italy. He could also have mentioned Prime Minister of Greece, Lucas Papademos and ECB President Mario Draghi, who are both former Goldman Sachs employees.
Brian Carney was next, dismissing the argument as conspiracy theory. “Sometimes a big lie, as everybody knows, becomes so big that it almost becomes tantalising to believe it, and I think that’s what we have here today”. “You know runs the world? It’s not the guys at Goldman Sachs, it’s not the guys at Wall Street, it’s not the guys at Canary wharf – it’s the guys with guns! And the guys who have guns are the government.”
Then came Alessio Rastani himself who posited a more extreme view of the world’s financial underbelly and dismissed all contemporary politicians. “When President Obama came into power he promised change. What he actually brought was business as usual.”.
Occasionally, he bordered on conspiracy theory – bringing up the assassination of JFK as the work of bankers did raise a few eyebrows . “People believe in a democracy” he said “. We need to believe that and the media of course keeps telling us that…the media and the financial institutions want us to believe the world is democratic and the people we elect are there to represent us. I think most of us here know better.”
Finally, Joe Bates, a self-confessed art student “layman”. Like Carney, he took the conspiracy theory line. “Conspiracy theories are the ultimate fairytales,because rather than giving you a good guy to believe in, they give you the big bad wolf. They tell you who’s to blame and allow to no longer take responsibility for stuff that’s happening in the real world.” He tried to place the Goldman Sach theory in terms a sociological reaction – people who feel scared and powerless trying to make sense of complex events through picking up on strands running between them. He also decried the tendency to focus on the banking sector and ignore the power and influence of other non-financial sector corporations.
Whether the audience on the night were persuaded that Goldman Sachs actually does run the world or not, no-one can argue that the fates of the global economy are critically tied in with the fates of the banking sector in general .
