Question: When does a $250 million municipal bond offering generate controversy? Answer: When Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is the lead underwriter. The firm is a magnet for controversy right now, and even routine deals are fair game. Especially when the deal was done even though the city has not filed financial reports on time for five years, notes Bloomberg.

Clearly, a high-yield muni deal in this troubled economy may be newsworthy on its own merits. But Goldman's angle has proven hard for some to ignore. Here's some criticism from Tyler Durden, posted on iStockAnalyst: This is the lunacy of CDOs all over again, when every Tom, Dick and Harry would park their capital into whatever was being pitched to them by Goldman persistently, having no idea about the actual investment, with Goldman most certainly buying up CDSs on Detroit just after the closing of the auction, for 'hedging purposes' (and no, that in itself will not push Detroit into bankruptcy: At best it will make the imminent solvency crisis come faster and be more painless)." Wow. That's a going out on a limb. But the firm is an easy target right now. 

For more:
- here's the iStockAnalyst article

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