Wurst Story Ever, sez Sausage Factory known as Goldman

Following our complaint, David Weidner changed the piece and, in an attempt to justify his baseless assertion, offered two examples: the first was a laughably flawed opinion piece written by Ben Stein in December 2007, for which Stein had no evidence and his argument was so woefully flawed that even our harshest informed critics distanced themselves from it.

The second piece of “evidence” Weidner cited was a thoughtful analysis by Allan Sloan of a mortgage transaction that went wrong and lost investors, including Goldman Sachs, money. The kindest interpretation that can be put on Weidner’s use of this deal is that he either didn’t read the article or, having read it, failed to understand it.

Perhaps publishing on-line financial commentary means there is less editorial oversight. If so, there is a real danger that nonsense can get dressed up as reality when, in fact, it is nothing more than a chimera produced by a febrile mind.

If we have done something questionable, we deserve to be held to account, but for your company to allow writers to publish with seeming impunity is an insult to the intelligence of your readers.

Lucas van Praag,