The Usual Suspects

(Portfolio.com) Wall Street bankers who’ve spent any time in the business often find they suffer from “Goldman Sachs envy”—a bitter mix of resentment and begrudging admiration for the firm’s seemingly endless list of triumphs. It thrived while others struggled, and even if competitors were succeeding, Goldman always one-upped them. It sealed bigger deals, showered its executives with more money, and placed its powerful alumni in higher levels of government.

Now, with Goldman emerging from the financial crisis battered but still on top, the Street is seeing something more insidiously silly: a bona fide Goldman conspiracy. “A lot of people think that they must have gotten where they are because of some unfair advantage,” hedge fund manager Bill Fleckenstein says. “Nobody likes to think that someone flat out beat ’em.” (See a list of Goldman Sachs alumni and how they figure into the market turmoil of recent months.)

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