Goldman Sachs reported profits of $1.6 billion for the first quarter of 2009, and is hoping to put their newly demonstrated strength to use, by paying back their TARP money and getting that pesky federal government off their backs. Quick thoughts: In that quarter, how much have they taken in government money, either direct (TARP) or indirect (Government-financed payouts from AIG)? I have trouble believing it’s less than 1.6 billion. In fact, it’s almost certainly a lot more. Though no one outside of Goldman and Treasury really knows, of course.
More relevant fact: The suspension of mark-to-market accounting means that these numbers ignore all write-downs to their assets and replace them with a guess at what they’re “actually” worth. Maybe Goldman actually turned a profit. There’s really no way to know, because this quarterly profit report is at best described as a PR exercise, and at worst fraud.