The responsibility to make that happen, he said, falls on the president.
"The executive’s job is to bring along the legislature," Bloomberg said.
"I don’t want to use the word manage ... but it is the executive’s job to explain to the legislators why his or her policies are the right ones and bring them along."
Goldman Sachs' Blankfein likened political cycles to economic cycles.
"People are now saying, 'Gosh, it's been horrible, it's never been this bad,'" he said. "Of course it was ... We did have a civil war."
He added that the fragmentation in Congress is not just the fault of the politicians. The electorate should also be blamed for putting people in office who commit to extreme positions.
Asked whether he would consider going into politics, Blankfein said, "I think it would be an attractive thing to do but a very unattractive place to get to."
He added: "Nobody likes the banks. They get terrible PR. I'm not sure if there is a way to change that, incidentally."
Bloomberg was joined by Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs — a bank that got a pretty bad rap during the financial crisis.
"People do not like concentrations of power," he said.
That includes concentrations of economic power, he said, noting it took a lot of economic instability before the Federal Reserve was created.
Mike Bloomberg isn't the first to point out that the hatred of bankers dates back centuries.
The Economist argued back in 2012 that "scorn for moneymen" can be dangerous for society.
Bloomberg and Blankfein noted the pharmaceutical industry faces a similar PR problem.
"What have they done other than save lives?" Blankfein asked sarcastically.
Bloomberg's advice to Wall Street on how to counteract the hatred was simple:
Be honest, finance our growth, be great corporate citizens, do the right things and not be too brash about bragging about it. You've got to do it and just assume a lot of people will understand ... Learn to live with the fact that they’re not going to love you.
A Goldman Sachs intern recently asked Lloyd Blankfein how he became the CEO.
"Can you explain when early on you had to decide 'I want to be CEO' or people noticed it in you? And what kind of things they noticed so you didn't become complacent and OK with just [vice president] or [managing director] or whatever—I know that's great success—but CEO..." the intern asked during a Q&A in July.
The simple answer from Blankfein: You have to do a great job in your current role and not worry excessively about the future.
Here is Blankfein's response in full:
No, I think there's a lot of luck. If you're an Olympic athlete...you also have to peak at the time it's an Olympic year. You can be the fastest runner in the world, and it's an off year. And so, you know, by the time you get to the Olympics three years later, you aren't [the fastest] anymore. There's a lot of luck involved in things in the world.
I never lived my life thinking about my next job because I was always in the last job I could have as far as I could tell. And I think it's a huge advantage for you to live in the moment and not to be seething too much. I mean, obviously you plan even though your plans never work out. But...the secret is to do a great job with what you're doing. What you should do is you should perform as if you are in your next job, but not seethe with the ambition to get there and project that—You'll make people nervous as hell and you'll kill yourself.
I'll give you an example....When I went to [Harvard] from the high school I came from, it never dawned on me that I'd get into that kind of an Ivy League school. It just didn't happen. But I applied. I never thought about it really after I applied because it just wasn't on my scope. And so when I got a letter, I didn't have any anxiety to it. And when I got that letter, I was just like ecstatic...It was just a great experience. Even the process of that was great.
When I was in college and I applied to law school, I went down to the mailbox every day. I knew the consequences of it. I was with a bunch of people who also wanted it and were vying for it. I was like torturing myself over. I was imaging 'What if I do get it? What if I don't get it? What are the consequences of getting it or not?' And I tell you—It affected my life and it affected my functionality.
I tell you if you could approach every opportunity like I did the college one, you'll be better and you'll be happier. And if you live the life tormented about 'What are my prospects for the next job?' when life is random and there is some chance involved in things, you're going to be tortured.
Blankfein has an interesting backstory. He grew up poor in the housing projects of Brooklyn. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, which no longer exists. He graduated as his class valedictorian and earned a scholarship to Harvard.
After graduation, Blankfein attended Harvard Law. He practiced for a while, but he wanted to get into finance.
He applied to a number of firms, including Goldman Sachs, but was turned away by all of them. He took a job at J. Aron & Company, a commodity trading firm that was later acquired by Goldman.
During his time at Goldman, he has led the fixed income, currency and commodities division. He also served as president and COO. He became the CEO of Goldman in 2006.
Blankfein is one of two CEOs that led their firms through the 2008 financial crisis and continue in their jobs. The other is JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon.
It's August and kids are starting to head back to school.
Before they were masters of the universe, the biggest names on Wall Street were once just regular high-school kids, too.
They were members of sports and academic teams. They entered essay contests, edited the school's literary magazine, and starred in musicals.
We combed through a number of high-school yearbooks and have compiled photos and accomplishments of some of the Street's most recognizable names. Some of them still look the same, while others have drastically improved their hairdos.
We even found Goldman's CEO Lloyd Blankfein in his swim trunks. Enjoy!
In the 1947 Woodrow Wilson High School yearbook, Warren Buffett said he wanted to be a stock broker.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
His top lieutenant, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, was in the ROTC and a member of the boys' rifle team at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens played basketball at Amarillo High School in the 1940s.
This year, according to data from Dealogic, it didn't even take until September.
It's a sign of how much M&A has risen in the wake of the financial crisis. Until last year, when Goldman advised on $1 trillion worth of M&A, no bank had worked on $1 trillion worth of deals from the onset of the recession forward.
According to Dealogic data provided to Business Insider, for 2015 JPMorgan ranks second for having advised on M&A with more than $800 billion worth of M&A; Morgan Stanley ranks third with more than $750 billion in M&A; Bank of America Merrill Lynch ranks fourth, having amassed $680 billion in transactions and Citigroup ranks fifth.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has compared the financial sector to the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts in a discussion over the distrust of institutions in the US.
Speaking at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday morning, Blankfein was asked by the paper's editor-in-chief, Gerard Baker, about Goldman's reputation as "the vampire squid" of capitalism, referring to the description coined by Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi.
Blankfein responded that there was a distrust of institutions in the US after the financial crisis, saying finance was like "the Boy Scouts or the Catholic Church."
"Someone in finance will get blamed for a predictable cycle," he added, referring to the potential for a downturn in the economy.
Blankfein has drawn fire before for drawing such comparisons. Though Goldman Sachs later said he didn't mean to be taken seriously, in 2009 he told the Sunday Times that bankers were doing "God's work."
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein wouldn't raise rates if it were up to him.
Speaking at a Wall Street Journal event on Wednesday morning, with regard to whether he would raise interest rates this week — as some expect the Fed might — Blankfein said simply: "I wouldn't do it."
Blankfein also said that the Fed should be data driven in its decision and that the economy doesn't seem to be ready for a rate hike.
And while markets are fixated on the first rate hike, Blankfein added that he's "not sure how consequential" the first hike is. It is, then, the path of rate hikes after the hike that will matter more for the longer-run health of the economy.
Now, in some sense, Blankfein is sticking with the Goldman house view, which says the Fed will raise rates f0r the first time in December.
Additionally, Goldman's economics team thinks that recent development in markets have tightened financial conditions so much that its as if the Fed had already raised rates three times.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been bullish on China for years, but at a briefing hosted by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday morning he slammed the country's handling of market forces as amateurish.
Blankfein said it was a "ham-handed way they dealt with the collapse," referring to government intervention when the country's stock market collapsed twice this summer.
"They don't have a lot of experience at this market stuff."
These are the harshest words about the Chinese economy we've heard from the generally optimistic Blankfein, and they get to the heart of how investors' views on China have changed over the past few months.
Investors are starting to question how the Chinese government is managing its unique system.
But back to Blankfein. In an interview with Bloomberg TV back in July, he sounded more like his usual bullish self and asked host Stephanie Ruhle:
"Just as a thought experiment, thinking in the short-term and long-term, if I said you have to — Would you invest in China for the next year? — think of your answer to that question. And then if I said to you, you had to invest within, for 20 years, but you couldn't touch it for 20 years — it was for your children — would you invest in China for the next 20 years?"
His point was that China was a great investment opportunity. That's the standard line.
Back in 2013, when Goldman sold its stake in Chinese bank ICBC, he went on a media tour reiterating the bank's bullish stance on the country's future.
A year later, he told Charlie Rose that China's rise already meant a new world order.
"Well, you know, you can look at it in the worst terms," he said. "US has a competitor. In the best terms, there's no locus."
But on Wednesday he sounded less optimistic, painting a picture of a clumsily managed economy.
China is focused on "10% growth at any cost," he said.
It's a target out of reach for the foreseeable future. Most Wall Street analysts have Chinese gross-domestic-product growth sitting at around 6.5%. Others say it's actually somewhere around 4% to 5%.
Blankfein continued: "They'll put a smoke belching factory in the middle of a city ... In China, when they want to pump up their economy ... they build 82 airports."
He added that 30 of them would be in the wrong location.
Blankfein has always recognized that this way of allocating resources for growth is fundamental to the Chinese model. The question now is whether it's a model the government can manage effectively.
At the briefing on Wednesday, one attendee asked Blankfein about China's role as the biggest holder of US debt. He responded that he would rather the Chinese have a stake in America's future than vice versa.
"I'd rather they hold our debt than we hold their debt," he said. "I'd rather owe money to the Chinese; they have a stake in our success. During the financial crisis they were worried about us. We weren't worried about them."
"I can find fault with some of the things that seem wacky to me that he says," Blankfein said, amid attempting to explain some of the appeal of Trump to a variety of the Republican electorate.
But he added: "It’s hard to imagine his finger on the button. That blows my mind."
The 61-year-old executive admitted his own moderate views might be coloring his perception of the real-estate mogul.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein announced Tuesday that he had lymphoma, a type of cancer.
In a statement on Goldman Sachs' website, Blankfein said his form of lymphoma was "highly curable" and that his doctors expected him to be cured.
He said he would be undergoing chemotherapy over the next few months and would continue to lead the firm during that time.
Blankfein will, however, cut back on travel and make fewer public appearances.
A source tells Business Insider that we can expect to see the bank's president and chief operating officer, Gary Cohn, making more public appearances in the interim.
On Monday night, Blankfein was scheduled to speak at a conference in Midtown Manhattan in New York City and was replaced at the last minute by Cohn.
Dimon underwent treatment, and by December his doctor found him cancer-free.
Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, which is part of the circulatory system and the immune system.
Here's the full statement from Goldman Sachs:
To my colleagues, our clients and our shareholders,
Late this summer after several weeks of not feeling well, I underwent a series of tests, which culminated in a biopsy last week. After the biopsy, I was told by my doctors that I have lymphoma. Fortunately, my form of lymphoma is highly curable and my doctors' and my own expectation is that I will be cured.
My treatment plan will include chemotherapy over the next several months in New York. My doctors have advised me that during the treatment, I will be able to work substantially as normal, leading the firm. I will, however, reduce some of my previously planned travel during the treatment period. I have discussed this approach with our Board of Directors and they are supportive.
There are many people who are dealing with cancer every day. I draw on their experiences as I begin my own. I have a lot of energy and I'm anxious to begin the treatment. I appreciate your support and good wishes.
That's the word from four Goldman Sachs executives who weighed in on China's lagging economic growth in a video published by the banking giant.
The four execs, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, said that China needs to transform into a capitalist and consumer-driven economy — but it's going to be a slow and gradual process.
The video was published prior to the announcement on Tuesday that Blankfein had "highly curable" lymphoma.
China's current growth strategy has led to "inefficient allocation of capital and resources," with "less focus on privatization and more emphasis on state-owned enterprises," according to Mark Schwartz, the chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific.
"Going forward, China needs to focus ... on having a more sustainable growth model, even if growth rate is a bit lower than it was in the past," said Robert Zoellick, the chairman of Goldman Sachs International Advisors. "This is not going to be a process that's going to be done in a quarter, or year, or two years."
Sustainable growth requires China to enact structural changes, such as developing capital markets, and cultural changes like creating an institutional investment culture, so that "mistakes that inevitably get made can be rectified," said Blankfein.
Part of that means China needs to create a business culture that can easily recycle failed enterprises.
"If you build a business ... that nobody uses, fees don't get paid. If fees don't get paid, debt doesn't get serviced. If debt doesn't get serviced, the bank takes it over. They plow it over, and you move on," he said.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The World Bank has already warned China about the need to reduce the role of government-owned enterprises in the economy, saying it could slow China's growth further.
"It's a real bootstrap problem. It's an execution problem. I'm absolutely convinced that the Chinese leadership knows the problems," Blankfein said.
"That being said, it's a very, very, very difficult undertaking to perform."
China's leadership has proposed reform, but many believe that the changes required are yet to materialize.
"It won't be a smooth, easy run for China — it's never that way for anyone," Blankfein said.
"This could very well be a century where China represents the incremental demand in the world, and all the focus of the world is upon China for the economic support of many, many countries, but that doesn't mean every year belongs to China," Blankfein said.
That excludes a long-term incentive plan that will be reported later this year.
Last year, Blankfein made $24 million, excluding $7 million in long-term incentive compensation.
To get the must-read guide to the key issues at every major Wall Street bank, click here.
President and COO Gary Cohn, CFO Harvey Schwartz, and the Co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International, Michael Sherwood, each received $21 million for 2015, down from $22 million from the year before.
Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday that were a beat if you exclude a big one-time legal settlement. Full-year earnings per share were down 28.9% from the year before; excluding the legal settlement, they were up 9.4%.
(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein will speak at an upcoming financial services conference, marking one of his first public appearances since being diagnosed with lymphoma in September.
Blankfein will present on behalf of the Wall Street bank at the Credit Suisse AG financial services forum in Miami Beach in February, Goldman said on Wednesday.
Blankfein has been undergoing chemotherapy over the last several months and has curtailed his business travel.
Other senior bank officials, including Goldman's chief operating officer, Gary Cohn, have assumed some of Blankfein's responsibilities in dealing with the public over the last few months.
Goldman awarded Blankfein $23 million in pay for 2015, the first decline in four years for the CEO, who received $24 million a year prior.
(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein on Wednesday morning made his first TV appearance since revealing that he had cancer last fall.
In September, Blankfein said he had a "highly curable" form of lymphoma. Since then, he has been undergoing hundreds of hours of chemotherapy treatments.
Blankfein appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday morning and said he was feeling "great."
The interview wasn't focused only on his cancer; it also touched on the economy and monetary policy.
While it was Blankfein's first TV appearance since he announced that he had cancer, he did give a talk in November for a Veterans on Wall Street event, and he had been going to work.
"I've always been very reality based," Blankfein told CNBC. "I've always been 'no choice no problem.' From the moment I got it, the diagnosis, I just went about it. I dealt with it. It turns out I was able to handle the meds pretty well, like 600 hours of chemo during this last few months. But I was able to go to work."
He continued: "And I'll tell you this. Whatever you might think of if you ever were in this kind of situation, how you might reorder your life, at the end of the day, whatever I've been doing for the last 35 years, I must like because I'm still doing it after 35 years. If I liked it before I got sick, I liked it after I got sick. It was actually important for me to go to work, and I felt good about it."
To get the must-read guide to the key issues at every major Wall Street bank, click here.
"This adjustment, certainly in equity prices, makes sense to me," Blankfein said.
"If it's a slow growth world, and the multiples are shrinking — and you multiply the earnings times a lower multiple as you should in a riskier environment, you kind of get to an S&P that we’re approaching now."
Stocks have taken a dive in 2016, but Blankfein says they are fairly valued if you consider the fact that we're in "a riskier world with more pessimism now."
Of course, he said, that sentiment can change on a dime and earnings can start to grow as more confidence returns. But for now, the stock markets make sense.
"I can explain why it is — I'm not looking for extraterrestrial causes," Blankfein said.
Market confusion
Blankfein is less sure about the impact of low oil prices on S&P 500 stocks. The low oil price itself, he said, is a result of oversupply.
"And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said.
Whether it's due to Saudi Arabia's decision to continue production to defend its market share or increased supply due to fracking — oil prices have taken a dive. And recently, the S&P has followed.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view."I don't really know why S&Ps would have that reaction to the underlying cause," Blankfein said.
And the current interest rate environment, Blankfein said, he understands even less.
"The fact that you can borrow money for free in a lot of places, or nearly for free in a lot of places, and people can't think of a way to earn more money than zero off of that — it makes it worth their while to borrow," Blankfein said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) fired off a fund-raising solicitation on Thursday based on a recent interview in which Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein discussed Sanders' campaign.
"Make a $3 contribution today to say you have had ENOUGH of Lloyd Blankfein and the billionaire class buying up candidates and elections in this country," Sanders wrote to his supporters.
During a Wednesday interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Blankfein was asked about Sanders' criticism of him. He replied by saying Sanders' populism had the potential to be a "dangerous moment."
"I don't take it personally since we've never met. Another kid from Brooklyn, how about that," Blankfein said of himself and Sanders, according to CNBC's transcript.
Blankfein continued:
It has the potential to be a dangerous moment — not just for Wall Street, not just for the people who are particularly targeted — but for anybody who is a little bit out of line. We have a moment in time where ... it's a liability to say, "I'm willing to compromise." ...
It's just incredible. It's a moment in history. Eventually people, the electorate, will notice nothing is getting done and somebody will come up with a new idea of saying, "Hey, send me to Washington and I'll compromise and I'll get things done." And that will be the new thing and everybody will rally to that point. There's a pendulum that swings in markets and also in the political economy as well. But right now it's an odd moment in time.
In his fund-raising message, Sanders said he found "it a little beyond comprehension that Lloyd Blankfein would lecture our campaign about 'dangerous moments' after Wall Street received huge bailouts from the working families of this country."
Sanders has waged an insurgent campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, in part by highlighting her ties to Wall Street and the big-money contributions to her super PAC. During a town-hall event Wednesday night, Clinton struggled to explain the six-figure speaking fees that she received from Goldman Sachs alone.
"Now Wall Street is pouring money into other campaigns," Sanders told his supporters Thursday. "But I am here to tell you that we don't want their money and we don't want their super PACs. We are going to do it differently."
View Sanders' full fund-raising email:
Brothers and Sisters —
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, said yesterday our campaign represents a dangerous moment, "not just for Wall Street, but for anyone who is a little bit out of line."
I have to say, I find it a little beyond comprehension that Lloyd Blankfein would lecture our campaign about "dangerous moments" after Wall Street received huge bailouts from the working families of this country, when their greed and recklessness caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, livelihoods, and homes just a few years ago. His arrogance has no end.
Now Wall Street is pouring money into other campaigns. But I am here to tell you that we don’t want their money and we don't want their super PACs. We are going to do it differently. We are going to win together on the strength of millions of small donations.
Make a $3 contribution today to say you have had ENOUGH of Lloyd Blankfein and the billionaire class buying up candidates and elections in this country.
Here’s the truth: Wall Street is terrified because we are running a campaign that does not support their agenda. They never expected us to battle to a virtual draw in Iowa, and they are starting to get a bit nervous about New Hampshire too.
The next primary is less than one week away, and we have a slight lead in the polls despite opposition from the economic and political establishment in the state. But if we stand together, I know that we have a good chance to win next week.
Goldman Sachs has made a significant change in its employee mix, and it's great news for junior bankers.
The firm increased its total number of analysts, associates, and vice presidents by 17% from 2012 to 2015, according to a presentation from CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum on Tuesday.
Goldman's partner and managing director pool, meanwhile, has decreased by 2%.
In the presentation, Blankfein said his firm had a "broadened pyramid" of employees.
In other words, Goldman Sachs has undergone a period of "juniorization," where more expensive staff have been shipped out and younger staff have been given the opportunity to take on more responsibility.
It's good news for the bank's finances too. In the 2012-2015 period, compensation and benefits expenses dropped by 2%, despite an 11% total increase in headcount.
"We actually think it's a competitive advantage to be best in class," CFO Harvey Schwartz said at the time. "So you'll see us continually invest in tech and businesses, and over longterm, we think it's a contributor to our performance."
Here's how Goldman's technology headcount and expenses have changed:
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view."Continued evolution of our cloud strategy and use of open source software has enabled a reduction to our infrastructure vendor spend," the firm said.
One such platform helps analysts put together initial public offering timelines and fee runs. Each of those tasks used to take bankers about six hours — the new tools can do them in about 30 minutes. Another will help bankers with the work surrounding mergers-and-acquisitions deals.
"We're building a technological solution around a deal life cycle,"Luke Sarsfield, COO of Goldman's investment-banking division, said at the time.
In honor of Valentine's Day, we've decided to feature some of the hottest power couples on Wall Street.
The range here is wide.
We have fund managers who date well-known actresses. We have bankers who are married to attorneys and television anchors. We even have someone who is married to a princess.
We wish them all a Happy Valentine's Day.
Socialite Nicky Hilton and banking heir James Rothschild
Him: O'Neill was a partner and head of research at Noster Capital, a value-investing hedge fund. He doesn't have a royal title.
Fun Fact: The couple has a daughter, Princess Leonore, and a son, Prince Nicolas.
Chelsea Clinton and hedge funder Marc Mezvinsky
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Status: Married
Her: Chelsea is the daughter of President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. She has previously worked for Mckinsey & Co., Avenue Capital, and was a correspondent for NBC.
Him: He's a partner at Eaglevale Partners LP. He has previously worked at Goldman Sachs and New York-based hedge fund G3 Capital.
Even the CEO of Goldman Sachs sometimes misjudges the market.
After seeing his Sagaponack mansion linger on the market for six months, Lloyd Blankfein has shaved $4 million off its asking price, bringing it to $13 million. He also switched brokers, swapping Sotheby’s International Realty for the Corcoran Group, according to StreetEasy.
His new agent, Corcoran’s Susan Breitenbach, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The seven-bedroom home, located at 121 Parsonage Lane, spans more than 6,500 square feet and includes a 45-foot heated pool, a tennis court, a paneled library and a screened porch.
Blankfein built the home in 2001, and has been trying to unload it ever since he and his wife Laura purchased a much bigger $32.5 million estate in Bridgehampton in 2012.
The couple’s primary residence is a penthouse at 15 Central Park West, and they reportedly also own a home at Faena House, a new $1 billion condo project in Miami Beach.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been trying to sell one of his Hamptons homes since 2007, but he hasn't found a buyer yet despite dropping the price by $4 million.
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