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O n the day the Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Goldman Sachs for securities fraud, shares in the company plunged 12.8 percent, closing at $160.70. The market, it seemed, was finally passing judgment on a decade of high-stakes Wall Street scammery that left America threatening Nigeria, Indonesia and Belarus on the list of the world’s most corrupt economies. A few days later, Goldman announced its first-quarter numbers. Profits were up 91 percent, to a staggering $3.4 billion. This article appeared in the May 13, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. The issue is available in the online archive . Compensation and bonuses soared to $5.5 billion, up from $4.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009. Battered in the press, Goldman was raking up on the bottom line. So investors once again leapt into Goldman’s arms, pushing the stock as high as $166.50, not far from where it was even before news of the SEC suit broke. Goldman isn’t dead – far from it. But this new … [Read more...] about The Feds vs. Goldman

When Rush Limbaugh , the Great Bloviater of the AM dial, signed off from the “Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies,” two days before Christmas, he warned the faithful in the raspy remains of his famous trumpeting baritone: “The day is gonna come, folks, where I’m not going to be able to do this anymore.” For 13 terrible days in Trumpland — while the mad president that Limbaugh helped make possible was flailing for survival, while the­ faithful were trying to “ stop the steal ” of the election, and even while the Republicans blew their Senate majority in the Georgia runoffs — the loudest voice in the right-wing echo chamber remained silent. By the time January 6th rolled around, even the millions of fans praying for a miracle cancer cure had to figure: If Rush had passed up the chance to fearmonger about Raphael Warnock’s old sermons and mock Jon Ossoff’s hair, well, he must be finished. At least with his trademark golden microphone, if not with this earthly … [Read more...] about Rush Limbaugh Did His Best to Ruin America