Anderson Cooper To Whistleblower: Why Do You Want To Hurt Those Nice Banks?

Well that was fast! The media has already, as Hamilton Nolan astutely predicted, turned on Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs analyst turned writer. You might remember Greg Smith from the scathing Op-Ed he wrote in the New York Times back in April, announcing his resignation from Goldman Sachs and revealing that their corporate culture is about as disgusting as we all have probably imagined it to be. At the time of the Op-Ed, the media wasn't so sure about what to make of him, but erred on the side of "whistleblower," with a dollop of hero ! Except now the Lamestream Media has changed its mind and decided that he kind of sucks because the banks are full of shitbags, tell us something we don’t know. Actually, he isn't "believable," probably (this is from the New York Times). Or maybe he is actually a LIAR, look at himLYING his ass off and getting paid a shitload of money to do it! That last one, of course, is from Forbes magazine, a paragon of probity .

Anyway, so here is an interview that Greg Smith did with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. And luckily, Cooper asked some very important questions. Like: wasn’t this a BETRAYAL? Wasn't it a BETRAYAL of this huge multimillion dollar corporation to hurt its feelings by writing a bunch of mean words about it in the New York Times? (Answer: no, although we would have accepted "who cares.") Also, is working at Goldman Sachs just like Fight Club, minus Brad Pitt pissing in your clam chowder and with less emphasis on personal hygiene products? (Yes, Anderson Cooper compares Goldman Sachs to Fight Club, though we’re not sure if he means the book or the movie.) Anyway, what is the REAL LESSON here? Banks suck, and no one empowered to do anything about it seems to care. Or alternatively, they seem to care about making sure that the banks can continue to act without consequences, and they help accomplishing that by assessing Greg Smith as a person rather than assessing the institutions that he's offering criticisms of. Criticizing the BANKS, you see, would be "biased," and we can't have that.

 [CBS News]