Long on Goldman

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. [Czech Republic European Union television]