Jon Tester

One of the things that doesn't make a lot of sense to me is why these synthetic--and I know you have got an answer for it--but why these synthetic instruments came about when there is nothing in them.

I think this country is in dire need of Wall Street reform and I think that you could add some to the equation.

I have been sitting here trying to really figure out a good analogy of how this happened...

Did this change your view of mortgage-backed securities?

It is just like betting on a sports event. It is like betting on whether it is going to rain.

I think there was a credit rating agency that testified--correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Chairman. I know you are busy so you might not be able to--but that said that in the Abacus deal they did not know anything about Paulson; it would have…

It really sounds like there was a failure to disclose information relevant to the parties in the transaction.

Are you in any way embarrassed that the U.S. taxpayer had to bail out Goldman?

It was ironic to me that they wouldn't say they worked for the clients.

I want to know when--look, a lot of these vehicles that were developed were based on housing.

We are like we are speaking a different language here, and that is not being critical of you...

Clearly, the world needs more regulation.

Even when the markets were going down--Senator Ensign talked about it.

Given that knowledge, were you surprised by Mr. Tourre's statement that the Abacus deal was similar to others in terms of quality?

I appreciate that answer. I am just asking Mr. Sparks, after the fact we saw things happening, and every one of these were--it looks like a wreck waiting to happen because they were all downgraded to junk in very short order.

I want to echo Senator Pryor's remarks, and Mr. Blankfein, I appreciate you being here.

So the housing decline was based on housing prices around the middle to end of 2006.

Do you feel confident that the information about each one of these that was about these was given to the investors, all the information that was out there, and the credit rating agencies, too?

I rise to talk a little bit about the Wall Street reform bill that the Senate Banking Committee has been working on for the last 6 months. It is my hope we can get this bill through this body and off the floor very soon. In the past 48…

The GI Bill that we passed is a major accomplishment.

Iraq and Afghanistan vets are coming back, and their unemployment rate is about 12.5 percent, which is higher than the national average.

I think we need more of a partnership, better communication if we're going to get to the bottom and get all that stuff fixed.

I have advocated for a VA education rep in Montana.

The fundamental thing you're doing in this bill is putting an absolute very clear set of numbers out there.

Do you anticipate the upgraded IT system will be adequately ready to handle the delivery of new benefits proposed by this bill?