Goldman Sachs on the Defensive as Senators Ask Blunt Questions

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/opinion/l29goldman.html
: Re “Goldman Sachs on the Defensive as Senators Ask Blunt Questions” (Business Day, April 28): The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman Sachs is essentially defining the fine line between ethically abhorrent and illegal. How the courts ultimately rule is anyone’s guess. But most perturbing to me was how little attention is being paid to a big loser from Wall Street’s actions: the American saver. TARP and other money funneled to Wall Street has been largely paid back. The biggest and most hidden subsidy of all has not. Interest rates are near zero. They are at such a level so banks, like Goldman, can make money by using this almost-free money and investing in AAA-rated Treasuries yielding 2 to 4 percent more than their borrowings. Savers are the ones financing this by forgoing normal interest rates, but they will never get their day in court. If Goldman owes anyone, it’s not the “sophisticated” institutions that bought their risky mortgage products; it’s the citizens who didn’t have a choice in bailing out entities like Goldman. Michael Lebowitz Bethesda, Md., April 28, 2010