Main Street cannot pay for Wall Street.

In today’s increasingly complicated and complex financial market, Goldman Sachs represents a perfect example of the excesses of Wall Street. Goldman Sach’s actions reinforce that which has come about since the beginning of the latest recession; Wall Street has no problem selling dirty financial products even to their own clients.

When Toyota sells a car that is faulty, it becomes their legal and moral responsibility to take care of the problem. Main Street is very exposed to these kinds of issues and they pay damages if they don’t take care of it. The car industry is a great example to show how companies deal with the problem they create.

With the recent crisis Wall Street almost collapsed. It is common knowledge that the subprime mortgage crisis has been the greatest challenge to the financial markets since the Great Depression. The subprimes were part of a global financial system which was growing for years. Everyone took advantage of it. Subprime loans enabled millions of people to achieve the American Dream: owning their own home. For years everyone took advantage of this economic expansion.

Attempting to place blame on one single individual or company for this crisis is irrelevant as everyone took advantage of the subprimes when the economy was flourishing. These financial products only became an issue due to their collapse and the resultant economic crisis. Goldman Sachs is suspected in selling, what is known in Sales Trader’s jargon as, “Shitty Deals” to their customers. These “Shitty deals” helped Goldman to make $3.7 billion from 2007. In the middle of the crisis, when everyone knew that subprimes were junk financial products, Goldman is accused of having sold to their customers these precise junk products. They are also suspected of having speculated against their customers to take advantage of the trend.

Goldman Sachs is one of the most respectable institutions in the financial world. It is one of the biggest investment banks in the world. If the capitol committee can show that the firm intentionally sold junk financial projects it only re-emphasizes the fundamental need for reforms in Wall Street.

In a market economy the market is supposed to be auto-regulated. The market is supposed to create a kind of harmony in the economic relations between the economic agents. But clearly the financial agents didn’t help to facilitate growth, rather, on the contrary, they only profited from the crisis. It is not acceptable that when Goldman Sachs clients are losing money because of the crisis that the firm should be making huge profits. They sold extremely risky products to their customers and made enormous profits by speculating against them, which flies in face of their slogan: "Our Client's Interests Always Come First.”

It is time that the financial institutions take responsibilities for their actions. Like any other business, the products a company sells should be a good quality product, and if the product fails the company should be liable, to the extent allowed by the law. So too should be the case in the financial markets, if a company knowingly sells a junk financial product, they should be held responsible for the outcomes. The Goldman Sachs case clearly shows the need for an increase in financial regulations. For if not, the consequences for Main Street are too dangerous; Wall Street cannot be a threat against businesses. Wall Street has to work for Main Street and not the contrary.