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eridani

(51,907 posts)
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 11:48 PM Jul 2013

Moving chunks of aluminum around for no good reason except profits for--

--Goldman-Sachs. Those useless 1% pigfuckers!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/a-shuffle-of-aluminum-but-to-banks-pure-gold.html?src=me&_r=0

Hundreds of millions of times a day, thirsty Americans open a can of soda, beer or juice. And every time they do it, they pay a fraction of a penny more because of a shrewd maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players that ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars.

The story of how this works begins in 27 industrial warehouses in the Detroit area where a Goldman subsidiary stores customers’ aluminum. Each day, a fleet of trucks shuffles 1,500-pound bars of the metal among the warehouses. Two or three times a day, sometimes more, the drivers make the same circuits. They load in one warehouse. They unload in another. And then they do it again.

This industrial dance has been choreographed by Goldman to exploit pricing regulations set up by an overseas commodities exchange, an investigation by The New York Times has found. The back-and-forth lengthens the storage time. And that adds many millions a year to the coffers of Goldman, which owns the warehouses and charges rent to store the metal. It also increases prices paid by manufacturers and consumers across the country.

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Moving chunks of aluminum around for no good reason except profits for-- (Original Post) eridani Jul 2013 OP
Huh? RobertEarl Jul 2013 #1
They profit from pointlessly changing the storage location of the waste n/t eridani Jul 2013 #2
Didn't they do this will oil back during one of the fake oil 'shortages?' nt Wounded Bear Jul 2013 #14
This reminds me of the Soviet joke about factories. joshcryer Jul 2013 #3
And Coal Mines in Colombia . . . Anymouse Jul 2013 #4
K&R dmr Jul 2013 #5
Message auto-removed Name removed Jul 2013 #6
Sorry, you're right eridani Jul 2013 #7
And it's not just that the banks want to own the real economy starroute Jul 2013 #8
I think our economy was designed by Milo Minderbinder... Wounded Bear Jul 2013 #9
This is exactly why free markets need regulation. Warren DeMontague Jul 2013 #10
Goldman & the alluminum market ReRe Jul 2013 #11
I drink bottled beer! Go to hell Goldman-Sachs!! B Calm Jul 2013 #12
Regulation aside, a prime example of how finance is wasting people's talents. reformist2 Jul 2013 #13
They learned that war sends oil prices soaring... Octafish Jul 2013 #15
So, you want to put those forklift drivers out of a job? oldhippie Jul 2013 #16
We can create even more jobs by hiring people to dig holes and then fill them in n/t eridani Jul 2013 #18
And if they dig the holes around old pipes, and replace them before filling in... JHB Jul 2013 #19
Moving aluminum chunks from warehouse to warehouse IS makework n/t eridani Jul 2013 #20
When you're high on Koch, you can move a lot of Aluminum Blue Owl Jul 2013 #17

joshcryer

(62,276 posts)
3. This reminds me of the Soviet joke about factories.
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 12:12 AM
Jul 2013

Basically the joke was that some factories made stuff that other factories dismantled to send back to the factories that made the stuff again.

Not the same thing and I can't find an anecdote to back up the joke, it's just amusing that... capitalism literally represents the caricature of its greatest enemy when it is taken to this level.

Anymouse

(120 posts)
4. And Coal Mines in Colombia . . .
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 12:37 AM
Jul 2013

. . . in the Good Reads section someone asked why Goldman Sachs owns coal-mining in Colombia in this DU post, and I linked the poster back here. I also explained to the poster and gave links to various articles: The Week, Bloomberg, Huffington Post giving various angles on how this works to their advantage (and other companies' and our detriment).

+1

Response to eridani (Original post)

eridani

(51,907 posts)
7. Sorry, you're right
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 01:39 AM
Jul 2013

Pigs are smart and social, and certainly don't deserve abuse at the hands of the 1%

starroute

(12,977 posts)
8. And it's not just that the banks want to own the real economy
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 01:56 AM
Jul 2013

If that was all, we might not even notice the difference. It's that they want to own the real economy so that they can make more money by screwing it up. This is why even Coca Cola is screaming about the result.

Wounded Bear

(58,699 posts)
9. I think our economy was designed by Milo Minderbinder...
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 02:19 AM
Jul 2013

We'll be eating chocolate covered cotton next.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
10. This is exactly why free markets need regulation.
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 02:24 AM
Jul 2013

Because otherwise, anything that can be done to make a buck, will. The commodities people have their customers over a barrel. This is a clear case of the invisible hand jerking the people around.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
11. Goldman & the alluminum market
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 02:28 AM
Jul 2013

I've got to check out and get some shut-eye. Tried to read and understand this, but will mark and come back to later today. Our government is complicit in the crimes the Corps perpetrate upon the people. Thanks for posting, eridani.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
15. They learned that war sends oil prices soaring...
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 11:59 AM
Jul 2013

...applied the principals to their holdings.

Pigfuckers is the word.

 

oldhippie

(3,249 posts)
16. So, you want to put those forklift drivers out of a job?
Tue Jul 23, 2013, 12:00 PM
Jul 2013

And the truck drivers?

Are you anti-union?

JHB

(37,161 posts)
19. And if they dig the holes around old pipes, and replace them before filling in...
Wed Jul 24, 2013, 06:32 AM
Jul 2013

...then it's rebuilding infrastructure, not just "make-work".

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