BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth: Goldman Rules The World

[Almira]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:13pm

WOW! Hoax or not, someone told the truth


BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth: "The Collapse Is Coming...And Goldman Rules The World"


"Governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world."

That's what a purported London-based independent trader named Alessio Rastani told the BBC on Monday in a jaw-dropping interview that quickly went viral.

But just as quickly, rumors swirled that Rastani was actually a member of the Yes Men, a loose-knit group of merry pranksters and imposters that attempt to manipulate the media with the goal of exposing the dubious conduct of big corporations.

The Yes Men publicly denied that Rastani is a member. And the BBC said in a statement that it doesn't think he is, either: "We've carried out detailed investigations and can't find any evidence to suggest that the interview with Alessio Rastani was a hoax. He is an independent market trader and one of a range of voices we've had on air to talk about the recession."

ARTICLE:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/bbc-victim-hoax-no-yes-men-154724196.html

VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqN3amj6AcE

Updated On: 9/27/11 at 06:13 PM

[Almira]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 6:34pm

Interesting comment on video:



It isn't quite right, of course, that Goldman Sachs "rules the world". It is true, however, that concentrated capital has a grossly disproportionate influence over policymaking - that, in John Dewey's phrase, politics is to a great extent the "shadow cast over society by big business" - and that states' responses to the economic crisis have been peculiarly attentive to the interests of business elites.

The reason this clip has had such an impact upon people - far more than most BBC coverage of the economic crisis - is that Alessio Rastani was candid enough to mention this basic feature of our political system, instead of whitewashing it from his analysis or concealing it behind artful euphemisms. If we had a media that told the truth about important things, Rastani's rather banal observations about the political and economic structures underpinning our society would be commonplace. Instead, the BBC anchors' "jaws... collectively dropped", and the subject was quickly changed.

http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/blog_comments/goldman_sachs_rules_the_world

Updated On: 9/27/11 at 06:34 PM

[canmark]

Posted: 9/27/11 at 8:15pm

I think a lot of people thought he was a hoax, as most *employed* people would not speak so candidly (although what he said was nothing surprising, really). That he was billed as an "independent trader" made it seem like he was either independently wealthy or a fraud (covering up for the fact that he wasn't a known trader).

The truth seems to be that he's a small time trader (working out of his house) who admits "I'm an attention seeker not a trader."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html