An apology and some $ for everyday people, but still not enough

November 19 - On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs announced it would donate $500 million to help small businesses recover from the recession and finally apologized to the American people:

“We have participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret…we apologize,” said Goldman’s CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, at the National Association of Corporate Directors event in New York.

The charitable initiative is a good step toward fixing the economy that Goldman Sachs helped to break, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what they could do to help families and workers stay in their homes and keep their jobs, especially over the holidays.

In the past month, we have made three attempts to deliver a letter to Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein asking that he donate their 2009 bonuses and compensation pool, which exceeds more than $500 million, to stop the tidal wave of job losses and foreclosures that they helped spur. These attempts occurred on October 25 in Manhattan by National People’s Action affiliate Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition at the home of Lloyd Blankfein; on October 26, during the second day of the Showdown in Chicago with a 1,000 person demonstration outside Goldman Sachs’ Chicago headquarters; and on November 16 where more than 200 people led a spirited demonstration outside Goldman Sachs’ DC headquarters. Goldman Sachs officials accepted our demand letters in Chicago and in Washington D.C.

Nov 16, DC - Rev. Pierce of National People's Action calls out Goldman Sachs and its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, for not doing enough for communities who bailed out the Wall Street firm.
Goldman Sachs owns loan-servicing companies, like Litton LLC, who have offered loan modifications to only 12% of their eligible borrowers. They also invest in companies like the Stella D’Oro cookie factory in the Bronx, that recently laid off 150 employees and decided to move the company to a non-union facility in Ohio to cut costs.

If Goldman Sachs is serious about helping small businesses and everyday Americans, they will tell their loan servicing companies to do what it takes to keep families in their homes, and give workers like those at the Stella D’Oro cookie factory their jobs back.