Blankfein at the Senate hearing into Goldman Sachs FT.com (blog)
8:42pm - And nearly 11 hours after the hearings began, that’s a wrap.
8:35pm - The audience appears to be thinning in the meeting room. Mr Levin is giving his closing statement, giving one last run down of how the entire financial crisis ensued, for the record. Mr Blankfein’s face is locked in a squint and he is clutching his water glass. “I happen to be one that believes in a free market, but if it’s going to be free…it’s got to be free of deception. It needs a cop on the beat of Wall Street.”
8:23pm - The Senator from Michigan sounds like he might be winding down. He wants Mr Blankfein to acknowledge the big short, which allowed Goldman to come out OK in 2007. “It’s not the fact that you made a profit, it’s not the fact that you went short - because you’re allowed to go short - it’s the conflict that’s troubling to me,” Mr Levin said. “You shouldn’t be selling junk, you shouldn’t be selling crap.”
