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Goldman Sachs executive lets loose on company’s treatment of Muppets—also known as clients

What do the muppets and high-end investment banking have to do with each other?

No, Kermit the Frog is not venturing into the Dow. But according to Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs executive, “muppet” is what managing directors at the investment powerhouse call their own clients. Smith made that, and a number of other accusations, in a scathing resignation letter which ran as an op-ed in the Wednesday edition of the New York Times.

The so-called “Muppet Manifesto” made the rounds online throughout the day, and claimed the environment at the bank is toxic and destructive—and that it made Smith “ill how callously people talk about ripping off their clients.”

Other Goldman Sachs executives denied the accusations. Yet, no one seemed as up in arms about Smith’s claim that the bank puts profits ahead of its clients interests. Goldman Sachs’ shares dropped slightly over the incident, and other reactions included a Bloomberg editorial entitled “yes, Mr. Smith, Goldman Sachs Is All About Making Money.”

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