Long on Goldman

03.11.2009 - EB

Ex-Minister Vladimír Dlouhý, a self-proclaimed candidate for EU commissioner, is lucky more Czech journalists don't follow international finance. Otherwise, the Goldman Sachs representative might be asked for his view on high-frequency trading, the distribution of market "color" to hedge funds, frontrunning of brokerage clients, taxpayer-funded bonuses, and cozy relationships between bankers and their chief regulator. Goldman is increasingly seen as a key player in the death of capitalism. It is to many Americans what ČEZ is to many Czechs. Dlouhý told Z1 TV that, on the Czech level, certain things are ceasing to be acceptable and cannot continue. The CR and its politicians, he said, have reached a certain limit. If and when Dlouhý returns to politics, it will be interesting to hear his take on whether his former employer helped create the global atmosphere that led to this sad state of affairs.

Glossary of difficult words

Long on Goldman - a play on the English meaning of Dlouhý (Long) and the idea of buying shares in Goldman with the prospect of future profit;

self-proclaimed - described as or proclaimed to be such by oneself, without endorsement by others;

high-frequency trading - computer-based trading that relies on information obtained a fraction of a second before others receive it;

market color - market information not disclosed to most traders;

frontrunning - the practice by market makers of dealing on advance information before clients have been given the information;

Z1 - see Interview Z1 from Oct. 29;

take - view of something; perspective.



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