'Goldman Sachs runs the world': trader sparks outrage
A financial trader in London caused a storm of outrage by suggesting that world leaders cannot do anything to prevent a global market collapse, saying that investment bank Goldman Sachs ruled the world.
Alessio Rastani's comments on BBC television on Monday have gone viral, viewed by more than 360,000 people, but they fit so closely to the stereotype of a heartless banker that rumours are rife that he is actually part of a hoax.
Answering questions about world leaders' response to the eurozone debt crisis, the 34-year-old said traders "know the stock market is finished. The euro, as far as they're concerned, they don't really care".
"For most traders, we don't really care that much how they're going to fix the economy, how they're going to fix the whole situation -- our job is to make money from it," he said.
"Personally I've been dreaming of this moment for three years. I have a confession, which is I go to bed every night, I dream of another recession."
As the BBC presenter looked on in shock, he added: "The governments don't rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world. Goldman Sachs does not care about this rescue package, neither does the big funds."
The comments from Rastani, who the BBC billed as an independent trader, caused a storm on Twitter and in British newspapers.
"Moment trader told shocked BBC presenter the City just LOVES an economic disaster," said the Daily Mail website, while The Independent described him as "the trader who lifted the lid on what the City really thinks".
The Guardian asked readers in an online poll if they were shocked, with two options: "No, this is how capitalism works", or "Yes (but only by his honesty)".
Some media reports have suggested Rastani is a member of The Yes Men, a US-based protest group who claimed responsibility for a 2004 bogus report on the BBC that Dow Chemical would compensate victims of the Bhopal disaster.
In an interview with Forbes website, he denied he bore any resemblance to the fictitious Dow spokesman who orchestrated that hoax and insisted he was a genuine trader who worked for himself.
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