Austerity Will Not Work in the U.S.: Lloyd Blankfein on Debt, Global Economy, Finance (2012)

Blankfein contributes to mostly Democratic party candidates and donated $4,600 to Democratic Party candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2007. He self-identifies as a Democrat. Goldman employees and their relatives contributed almost a million dollars to Barack Obama's presidential campaign—making it "the company from which Obama raised the most money in 2008"—and Blankfein has visited the White House 14 times as of January 2013. However, Goldman gave substantially more to Republicans than Democrats in 2012. Former Goldman executives who hold senior positions in the Obama administration include Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Robert Hormats, the undersecretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. With regard to his personal political views, Blankfein has described himself as "a registered Democrat, and a Rockefeller Republican ... conservative on fiscal issues and more liberal on social issues." He is a supporter of gay marriage and has been a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. In May 2012, Blankfein stated that his stance led Goldman Sachs to lose some clients. On April 7, 2009, he recommended guidelines to overhaul executive compensation. According to The New York Times, he said that lessons from the global financial crisis included the need to "apply basic standards to how we compensate people in our industry".[28] In November 2009, he declared in an interview, as a banker: "I'm doing God's work."[29] Several days later he indicated that he regretted that remark and said he had intended it as a joke. He also apologized on behalf of Goldman Sachs to the public for unspecified "things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret" and which contributed to the financial and economic crisis. The firm announced a 10,000 small businesses initiative, committing $500 million to aid American small businesses.[30] On July 18, 2012, he commented about the effect of the Libor scandal on the financial system, "There was this huge hole to dig out of in terms of getting trust back and now it's just that much deeper." [31] The same day he met Jack Lew, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, and over lunch at the Economic Club of Washington was asked whether he had any aspiration to go into government like predecessors Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin. "I have aspirations to be desired," he replied. Blankfein is the Gala Chairman of the Rockefeller family's Asia Society, based in New York. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization, whose goal is to alleviate poverty in New York, and he serves on the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College. Blankfein is married to the former Laura Jacobs. The couple has two sons, Alexander and Jonathan, and a daughter, Rachel. Alexander married in April 2013; he and his wife are pursuing M.B.A.s at Harvard Business School. Alexander is to become a consultant at Bain & Company in September 2013. Blankfein's younger son, Jonathan, graduated from Harvard University and works as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. His daughter Rachel is now a student at Harvard University. Blankfein and his wife reside primarily on the Upper West Side, but they also maintain a home in Bridgehampton, New York, as well as another house, set on 2.65 acres, in Sagaponack, New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Blankfein