We don't often hear a lot of criticism about Goldman Sachs, which makes the commentary by New York Times columnist Ben Stein all the more interesting. He starts by taking issue with a paper by a Goldman Sach economist that was extremely bearish on the housing sector, predicting sorry effect on the financial system and the economy. The column notes that Goldman was a big purveyor of CMOs, the riskiest parts of which have already blown up for unlucky buyers. Then, he notes that Goldman is short the housing sector in a big way. His point is that Goldman's product was barely tenable. But to start putting out scare-inducing commentary in support of its trading positions is even worse. He likens it to Henry Blodgett during his hey day at Merrill Lynch. To be fair, Goldman often shorts securities it underwrites. Not that that makes it right.  

For more:
- here's the column

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