Goldman Sachs is scouring internal emails for the word "muppet" and other slurs its employees may have used to deride the blue-chip firm's clients, according to Reuters. The probe is a response to an op-ed in The New York Times in which former employee Greg Smith accused Goldman employees of "ripping their clients off" and contemptuously labeling them "muppets." The high-profile scandal is a stinging black eye for Goldman, which has long portrayed itself as a haven for wealthy clients' money. Will the "'muppet' hunt" convince Wall Street that Goldman is serious about reforming its "toxic" culture?
This is just a PR stunt: Call me "cynical," says Sam Gustin at TIME, but the investigation is probably "little more than a dog-and-pony show, strategically leaked to the press in order to convey the impression that Goldman 'gets it,' and is determined to root out the rotten apples" in the company. It's telling that Goldman didn't say what it would do if it finds scores of references to muppets. "Will it publish a mea-culpa in The Times? Will it fire the offending employees? Will we ever know the results of the investigation?" I doubt it.
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