Once again, C-SPAN comes through in the clutch. I am talking about Tuesday's hearings on Goldman Sachs and the firm's policies that helped bring this country to the brink of financial crisis.
The exact title of the body that held hearings Tuesday: The Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations. It is chaired by Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan. And Levin came prepared, even if some of his Republican colleagues seemed to be on Prozac or in a coma.
While the 24/7 cable channels bounced in and out of coverage, the cameras from C-SPAN3 settled in at the hearing room, and showed us the faces of Wall Street in all their greed, arrogance and duplicity. They also showed us the dogged determination and occasional outrage of Levin as he stood toe to toe with the present and former Goldman Sachs employees who thought they could rope a' dope their way through the hearing.
(Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifying Tuesday. Image courtesy of C-SPAN.)
Some tried to run out the clock by acting like they couldn't find documents or were too slow to follow Levin's line of questioning. This from the boys who thought of themselves as the masters of the universe. Others acted like the senators were hopelessly naive when it came to such complex financial matters and so, couldn't possibly be worthy of judging these titans of American commerce. At least, this crew was more honest in its unbridled arrogance.
What a wretched and disgraced lot. And you could only appreciate that through the kind of uninterrupted, continuous coverage that C-SPAN3 offered. There were no one or two great soundbites that suggested what a depraved culture Wall Street has become. These wealthy men were coached and lawyered far too well to offer up any such response to their questioners.
But the cumulative result of seeing them repeatedly dodge the most direct and simple questions even as they remained defiant in the face of extensive documentation of their dishonesty told the story of their callous disregard for decency, fair play and the well being of America. I hope the wives and children of some of these men watched and saw what I did of their husbands, fathers and sons.
I am not criticizing the 24/7 cablers for jumping in and out of coverage. They feel they have to be the tellers of all the day's news. But once again, just as I did with the healthcare reform hearings and committee meetings, I thank our lucky stars for C-SPAN and another stellar, on-the-case performance in capturing a snapshot of what we have become as a culture and a nation. We are so lucky to have C-SPAN operating at such a high level in these tumultuous and troubled times.
Here's a link to the livestream of the hearings.
UPDATE 5:37 p.m. Tuesday: I posted before Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, appeared at the hearings. I am watching him now under tough questioning from Levin, and there can be no question where the cancer in this company came from: the top. What a disgusting, devious and arrogant character. I love the signs being held behind him by people in the room: the ones that say "shame" and show an image of Blankfein. C-SPAN's cameras are showing us nothing less than the public shaming of a morally bankrupt management culture.