Hillary vs Trump-tanic: Betting Smart on Goldman Sachs

“It’s just business” is essentially the refrain of those who have come to believe that Donald J. Trump has anything to offer the political discourse. They allow him to get away from explaining his existence by saying that anyone “outside” of politics has to be better than any part of those inside the establishment -- and besides, his ugliness is “just business.” It’s just business when he says and does anything to make outrageous and unearned profits.

Whatever happen to the good old proverb about “the devil we know versus ….”? I’m not sure, but what is clear is that we ought to take a hard look at this promise from some surprising sources. There is abounding evidence that many of the companies that appear to be too big to be measured by normal standards of decency are learning valuable and useful social/cultural lessons. Obviously, the mind of Donald the Dumpster fell off this track, meaning that even if his human soul was salvageable, he would likely still miss out on the movement towards imbuing positive capitalist developments into “smart” and “sustainable” Impact Investing … the latter being the basic idea that money can and should be used as a means to earn reasonable profits in ways that align to socially beneficial purposes.

The Trump-tanic of business is sinking fast, and we ought to pay attention before deciding too vehemently on the bet Hillary Clinton has made on companies like Goldman Sachs.

For the fact is that one of the better companies that exhibit an amazing propensity to learn is the constantly attacked Goldman Sachs. Without going into details here -- since people tend to gloss over them, which likely explains the mess the country is in with our business sectors anyway -- look at just two issues concerning GS: it’s move towards alternative energy and its interest in Impact Investing.

I mean, by the way, literally LOOK IT UP. The evidence is abundant that this is a company that is trying. And this could well explain who they hire to listen to. Go here, for example, and see this article by GreenTech folks: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/goldman-sachs-sees-transformational-moment-in-renewables-investment . After wondering about whether this is a PR ploy on the part of the company, here’s what the head of GS’s sustainable sector says:

“It will be important from a societal perspective, and it will be good business for us and our clients,” Bernstein said. “We want to be extraordinarily focused, involved and have the best franchise in the area. That’s how we think about it.”

And regarding Impact Investing … their commitment to putting better money into their corporate spreadsheets is impressive. They were one of the first to put their money where their mouths are, and in ways that should rattle other traditionally exploitive money takers: http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/social-impact-bonds.html 

I confess without hesitation that I back Hillary Clinton to be Madam President. We’ve earned that privilege, she the right to represent our interests. As for Trump, he’s a social and generational error with wasteful access to attention-getting ways and means, thanks to unfair and exploitive jumpstarts and white, male privileges. 

But my animosity against him aside, stop dissing Hillary without factoring in the possibility that she could well know where Goldman Sachs is heading and thus made a smart decision to be on the side of a movement geared towards better learning. No chance there those who refuse or are too self-obsessed to listen. As I said, the Trump-tanic is sinking and we as a nation need to get away before the force of descent drags us under with it.