高盛CEO：金融危机让我认清自己

    劳埃德•布莱克费恩表示，金融危机对他而言是个人成长的一个阶段。

    当时，几百万美国人的抵押资产面临丧失赎回权。还有更多更多的人丢掉了饭碗。布莱克费恩不得不面对公众对高盛公司的尖锐批评。

    这位高盛（Goldman Sachs）CEO在周二的一次行业会议上表示，有过好几次他都考虑是否退出。现在，他很高兴他没那么做。

    “你们很了解我和我的公司，”布莱克费恩告诉与会的华尔街人士。“但我对我自己更了解。我知道，我比自己想象的更有承受力。

    布莱克费恩还表示，金融危机“有些像是”为收入不均敲响的“警钟”。他说，这是件好事。“美国在创造财富方面做得非常出色，但在分配方面不行。”布莱克费恩说。“但我不想做抑制我们创造财富能力的事情。”

    布莱克费恩对高盛在金融危机前进行的复杂的抵押债交易表达了歉意。这些交易为高盛赚了130亿美元，但公司的声誉却因此受到了损害。这些交易还导致美国地方政府和纳税人蒙受了损失。

    很多人都认为，这些交易加剧了本轮金融危机造成的经济损失。高盛最终同意支付5.50亿美元就这些指控达成和解。

    2009年，布莱克费恩的全年薪酬减少到了900万美元，大大低于前一年的6,850万美元。如今他的薪酬已经回升。过去的3年中，他获得了5,100万美元的薪酬。本月早些时候，美国人口调查局（Census Bureau）称， 美国的贫困人口比率停滞在16%，约有4,700万贫困人口。

    周二，布莱克费恩还表示，他希望2009年的时候，他和他的同事能更好地预见到对高盛的种种批评，在指责发生时能更迅速地做出回应。2009年末，布莱克费恩告诉一位记者称，他只是一名银行家，不过是“在做上帝的工作”。现在清楚了，这句引语被断章取义了。布莱克费恩看起来是在开玩笑。不过它在当时引起了市场的一片哗然。

    布莱克费恩不是第一位宣称金融危机让自己变得更好的华尔街人士。3月份，前雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）首席财务官艾琳•卡兰在《纽约时报》（New York Times）上刊登了一篇专栏文章称，金融危机让她意识到生活不仅仅是工作。她说，她现在意识到，有权势的工作以及随之而来的财富总是要付出一些代价。的确如此。（财富中文网）

    Lloyd Blankfein says the financial crisis was, for him, a period of personal growth.

    Millions of Americas were facing foreclosure. Many, many more lost their jobs. Blankfein had to face stinging public criticism of his firm.

    The Goldman Sachs CEO, speaking at an industry conference on Tuesday, said there were times he thought about quitting. Now he's glad he didn't.

    "You learned a lot about me and my firm," Blankfein told the audience of fellow Wall Streeters. "But I found out a lot of stuff about me, too. I learned that I have much thicker skin than I thought."

    Blankfein also said that the financial crisis led to a "bit of a wake-up call" about income inequality. He said that was a good thing. "This country does a great job of creating wealth, but not a great of distributing it," said Blankfein. "But I don't want to do something that stops our ability to build wealth."

    Blankfein expressed regret about the complicated mortgage trades his firm did in the run-up to the financial crisis. The transactions made Goldman (GS) as much as $13 billion, but they damaged the firm's reputation. They also led to losses for local governments and taxpayers around the country.

    Many have also said that deals exacerbated the economic damage of the financial crisis.Goldman eventually agreed to pay a $550 million fine to settle charges.

    Blankfein's annual compensation dropped to $9 million in 2009, from $68.5 million the year before. But his compensation has rebounded. He's been paid $51 million in the past three years. Earlier this month, the Census Bureau said the nation's poverty rate was stuck at 16%, or 47 million people.

    On Tuesday, Blankfein also said he wishes he and his colleagues had done a better job back in 2009 of anticipating the criticism of Goldman, and reacting quicker when it came. In late 2009, Blankfein told a reporter that he was just a banker "doing God's work." It's clear now that the quote was taken out of context. Blankfein appears to have been making a joke. It did not go over well.

    Blankfein is not the first Wall Streeter to credit the financial crisis with making them a better person. Back in March, Erin Callan, the former CFO of Lehman Brothers, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that the financial crisis led her to the realization that there is more to life than work. She says she now realizes that powerful jobs, and the wealth that comes with them, do not come without a cost. Indeed.