This is going to be one of those rare instances where I have to defend Goldman Sachs. In an interview this morning Jim Cramer made an excellent point about the David Sokol & Berkshire Hathaway controversy regarding Sokol’s purchases of Lubrizol shares prior to the Berkshire buyout – if this were Goldman Sachs there would have been a Department of Justice press conference this morning and an investigation underway. There would be complete outrage. But again, this is Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway so it’s different for some reason.
In the eyes of Main Street, Mr Buffett can do no wrong. He’s just that regular old chum from Nebraska after all. How could he do anything wrong? Well, if Berkshire were located on Wall Street in Manhattan this would all be a very different story. Call it the Goldman Sachs double standard. I don’t know if there was anything illegal here and I am certainly not alleging that there is, but I do know that Goldman would be public enemy # 1 this morning if this had been a partner involved in a Goldman merger. It’s ridiculous.
Source: CNBC
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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