[Goldman Sacked]

So I initially came here tonight to post in direct response to the current financial crisis.
I was probably going to say some heartfelt, overthought banter about how I remember in the third grade, when the Dow first closed above 10,000. But bland pageantry to the fires. As I was reading up on the latest market specs, something caught my eye and I think it should catch yours as well.

In a week where Lehman Brothers filed bankruptcy on Monday, Merill and A.I.G. pretty much went to shit by Tuesday, and the Dow had fallen by a about 800pts by Wednesday, one company was still able to post share values of well above $100. That unceremonious nod would have to go to Goldman Sachs, former stomping grounds of Henry Paulson, Joshua Bolten, John Corzine, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Granted, GS is a far cry from last November's high of $250/share, but relatively speaking, it's surprising to see a price like that for a financial institution. No surprise that Vault.com announced this morning that, for a third consecutive year, Goldman Sachs was rated the top investment bank in the market.

Forbes and the Associated Press took a much more sober view of the situation. Albeit, GS isn't twitching on the ground yet, but it's loss today of 13.92% a share cast an overall negative shadow upon one of the last standing major investment banks on Wall Street. Forbes cited this being Goldman's worst quarter in a decade as ample evidence for investors to pull out. AP claimed GS, along with Morgan Stanley, are next in line for the guillotine.

To extend the Terror of 1792 metaphor, this seems to be a classic case of Danton-Robespierre tumult, whereby the lions of one day become the fodder of the next. Frankly, though Goldman Sachs' figures today are shocking at a glance, their performance pretty much determines their course. It's a basic path dependency that history, clearly, supports.