Episode summary
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein on Why He Doesn't Tweet
Odd Lots
· · Hosts: Tracy Alloway, Joe Weisenthal · Guests: Lloyd Blankfein
Summary
Lloyd Blankfein argues that the world has moved from one geopolitical and market regime to another, with Russia, China and globalization all swinging from openness to strain and back again. He says the financial crisis, Covid, and supply-chain politics all pushed governments to think more about where assets and production physically sit, which made the world feel less flat and more cyclical.
He also says his post-Goldman life is less about formal retirement than staying close to markets, trading risk assets, and avoiding the kind of public commentary that can become self-defeating. Blankfein says he quit tweeting because he learned that once you start to feel clever online, “that’s when you’re going to get killed,” and he ties that discipline to the same risk-management instincts that shaped his career.
On banking and systemic risk, he thinks private credit and other illiquid assets can become dangerous if investors misunderstand the liquidity premium, but he does not expect them to become systemically destabilizing on their own. He argues that central banks and governments would still have to intervene in a real crisis, because the banking system is the transmission mechanism for policy.
Blankfein is bullish on New York as the center of finance, skeptical that AI will erase the need for judgment, and convinced that technology will keep displacing routine work while creating new forms of work and risk.
Key takeaways
- Blankfein says globalization has moved in cycles, with Russia and China both going from openness to strain as politics and geopolitics changed.
- He expects governments would still have to rescue the banking system in a real credit crisis, because monetary policy flows through banks.
- Blankfein warns that private credit and other illiquid assets can be dangerous if investors and institutions do not understand the liquidity premium.
- He says AI will automate many bank functions, but judgment and risk-taking will remain human bottlenecks for the foreseeable future.
- He believes New York remains the deepest finance hub, even as Miami and other centers attract people for tax and lifestyle reasons.
Notable quotes
“I think the tendency is for things to improve, to get better”
“I know the price of everything all the time, and I trade”
“The world is flat. Know you can be stimulated by something that's not right”
How the episode opens
So nobody can remember being friends with Russia now. But we were when I started. You couldn't think of going to Russia.
I remember I once my early trips, I was in the commodities business, I started in the commodities business, and we used to go to Russia in the early 80s. We're like 1982 and 1983, middle of the Cold War. And I remember when the plane would take off and you wouldn't go directly to the plane, go in the air, and people start applauding.
When the plane lifted off, you couldn't imagine Russia being normal, like a place to do business. Then in the Gogo years after the fall of the eye of the Iron Curtain, you'd go there and it was like the what? It was, it was it was capitalism on steroids.
And we thought that that was going to endure. And now, you know, reverse again. Same thing with China when, you know, we invested a lot of time.
I personally invested a lot of time and effort in you, by the way, we still have a big business in China, but it's, you know, as imagine strain. Now it's very hard to do business. Music has kind of a Western vibe.
Yes, nice straight. It's very polarizing. Oh, no.
Love it. Some people hate it. Joe, I have a confession to make.
Yeah. Go on. This is probably the most nervous I've ever been for.
And all thoughts of us. Are you for real? Yeah.
And I'll tell you why. And actually, the reason why. You'll know.
Because you want to know. I do know the first time Joe and I ever met Lloyd Blankfein in person was at a sort of media roundtable. And for some reason, I felt it incumbent upon myself to tell a joke.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- deglobalization
- ai impact on banking
- private credit risk management
- tax attitudes and wealth inequality
- risk management and market volatility
Companies and tickers mentioned
- GS
- Goldman Sachs
- Bloomberg
Watch the episode
Watch “Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein on Why He Doesn't Tweet” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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