GS the new GM?

Give it a name: General Motors is about to become Government Motors.

Charles Erwin Wilson was formerly GM CEO, way back in the WWII era. He's the one who said (though the context provides nuance the quote doesn't translate), "for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa."

Now, along comes an editorial in the NY Daily News with a similar refrain for GS.

Like it or not, what's good for Goldman - as the ultimate representative of the financial industry - is good for the city. In fact, the economic well-being of the entire state is inextricably tied to the presence of big, thriving banks.

Thus, it is concerned about the SEC action:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has poured gasoline on the populist fires burning Wall Street with its charge that Goldman Sachs created and peddled subprime mortgage investments that were designed to go bust.

The agency could not have picked a juicier target than the world's richest bank or done so at a more perilous time for both the U.S. economy and the fortunes of New York.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/04/18/2010-04-18_playing_with_fire.html#ixzz0lRjNFxpX

NY, as with The City of London, owes its excesses to the bloated and gloating big banks. It owes its "well being" to the bonuses and excessive salaries plucked from the dreams of Main Street, US. Those excesses were bought with the savings of American and international taxpayers, pension funds, municipalities and homes.

It is payback time. And it's time to fix the problems. Both ideas tend to run together. Don't try to derail the fix by crying "don't hurt me" to the crowd you preyed on and played the fool and looked down your nose on.

Burn Baby Burn.