Updates: A Few Good Traders…Goldman Sachs on the Hill…

duty calls–WSJ live blogging here for continuing coverage-

Update: 5:52pm EST: John McCain up, asks if Lloyd agrees the collapse was brought on by housing. Lloyd says it is a major cause. Mac clarifying how GS is involved with housing indirectly, confirms TARP gave GS 10 billion, asks why they thought they needed that if they werent involved in housing..

oh here we go with how Paulson made them take the dough, good grief…MAC now stating their earnings, oh boy..he is in campaign mode here and asking Lloyd about his bonus, are we sure there isnt a D behind MAC;s name? just askin;…

Ahhh okay MAC is tying this into how community banks are going under now and THOSE banks are the ones who make home loans, and tying it to Dem FINREG bill that will protect GS more…via the FED and Trez bailouts…yep

Update: 5:50pm EST: whoa Levin getting nasty, says “HE doesnt trust GS…why would people trust GS”…not kewl. I mean I say it yeah, but not on CSPAN ya know? Karmic for GS are they happy joy joy for electing Obama now? idiots.

Update 5:47pm EST: : Levin just yammering away at Lloyd about his disclosure obligations…Lloyd saying no we do not have the obligation to disclose, when you buy from NYSE you dont know the sellers position…Levin not buying it..

Teh Funny h/t Calculated Risk:

Making the rounds, a little Goldman humor (ht Brian):

“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth. Son, we live in a country with an investment gap. And that gap needs to be filled by men with money. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Middle Class Consumer? Goldman Sachs has a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.

You weep for Lehman and you curse derivatives. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that Lehman’s death, while tragic, probably saved the financial system. And that Goldman’s existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves pension funds.

You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want us to fill that investment gap. You need us to fill that gap. “We use words like credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligation, and securitization? We use these words as the backbone of a life spent investing in something. You use ’em as a punchline.

We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a commoner who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very credit we provide, and then questions the manner in which we provide it! We’d rather you just said thank you and paid your taxes on time. Otherwise, we suggest you get an account and start trading. Either way, we don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!”

credit: anon.

Update: 5:16pm EST: Okay Lloyd takes his seat, cannot see him behind the camera scrum!

Update: 5:06pm EST: Fin Reg bill just failed cloture vote again, 57-41, they need 60 to invoke cloture and proceed to debate on the bill. GOP is holding together so far, good stuff. I hope they kill Buffett’s derivative capital exemption and strip Trez of proposed authority to dissolve firms outside bankruptcy law….

GS CFO Viniar  is finishing testifying and CEO Lloyd Blankfein is up next…

It came up in testimony that Treasury presented the term sheet to GS in re AIG CDS’ payoff by taxpayers, listing 100% payment, Nice negotiating there Timmeh…frakkers…Levin seems to want to nail GS on the marketing of New Century securities also…hmmm..

5:15pm EST: ROTFLMAO! Vinier tells Coburn he has NO OPINION on whether FINREG should address FAN FRED! Coburn says okay its 1 trillion and you dont have an opinion on addressing it? he says not really…niiice. Yeah this is a GS approved bill the Dems are floating, thus the glaring omission of FAN FRED, good job laying that out Coburn! :0) okay he is done, Lloyd is next!

Update: 4:20pm EST: Gateway Pundit links to the video of Carl Levin D-MI harping on the phrase ‘shixxy deal’ which he takes from an email in the pdf linked below…really laying it on thick is Carl…

PS I called it right!(see our mixpod musical selection today, lol) GLD up 16 bucks now, 10 yr down under 3.70 on the Greek debt downgrade no doubt, safety play…

Update: 4:00pm EST: WSJ provides a pdf of the 901 pages of exhibits for the hearing. DOW now down 220 to 10,987.

Market Update 3:30pm EST: S &P downgraded Greece debt to junk status and DOW is off 125+ and fluctuating there..

GS is trading up 2.61 to 154.64. I would never put my business with GS if I were a sovereign fund or a company or anybody really, they will trade against you to make a buck, that’s what I take from this….but it appears they all do it, GS just does it really well…

Mad Men testify, l to r, Sparks, Birnbaum, Swenson and Tourre

Update: 3:14pm EST-panel breaks- Things we have learned so far:

Fabrice Tourre is being hung out to dry by GS and Sen Coburn R-OK kinda sorta tried to let him know that but the kid doesnt get it yet.

Would be great to play poker against Michael Swenson, he is the one I would try to crack if I were a plaintiff trial atty and he still works for GS, can we get the Lie to Me producers to analyze his constant blinking?

Daniel Sparks, former GS head of the mortgage unit or some such can dance like bojangles and isnt giving anything up but he looks good doing it, Mad Men sort of look…

Josh Birnbaum former GS managing director, is an arrogant condescending tool and would fit right in with Team Obama IMO. He is too young for the success he had and it shows in his conceit. They can hoist this guy with his own hubris.

The best is the Senators are using the Birnbaum and Swanson’s self evaluation form against them. In the form Birnbaum is all about what a genius he is taking these positions for the firm…

I want to like these guys, I am looking to back free markets here but it is really clear GS used its knowledge of the markets it ‘made’ to take positions for itself and in effect they are then taking a position against their own clients. conflict anyone?

Birnbaum admitted yes he took a huge short position against MER and Bear Sterns and tries to play it off and obfuscate like crazy when Coburn is trying to nail him down that he took that position AFTER GS sold Bear 300 million in crappy instruments GS put together!! come on man that aint kewl.

CSPAN3 has the live stream, as well as CNBC

fun fun. My theory is SEC didn’t tell WH about the GS charges. Little did the SEC know this was all kabuki and the WH really loves them some Government Sachs, heh hoist by their own petard rhetoric…methinks the WH doesn’t understand it is really easy to lose control of the reins when playing the class warfare card especially with the critters entering re election season…

CSPAN will cover hearing live beginning at 10:00am EST…

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifies before a Senate subcommittee today on the role his and other investment banks played in triggering the 2008 financial collapse. The hearing comes just one day after Senate Democrats failed to gain the 60 votes needed to act on financial regulatory reforms.