2026-03-08T10:25:00-0400 / CBS新闻
作者
乔·林·肯特（Jo Ling Kent），高级商业与科技记者
记者乔·林·肯特于2023年7月加入CBS新闻，担任高级商业与科技记者。肯特拥有超过15年报道美国科技与商业交叉领域的经验，以及中国崛起为全球经济强国的相关报道经历。
更新时间：2026年3月8日 / 美国东部时间上午10:29 / CBS新闻
“我们已经很长时间没有发生过严重事件了，”劳埃德·布兰克费恩（Lloyd Blankfein）表示。”自金融危机以来已经过去了17年。”这位曾带领高盛度过那场历史性危机的前CEO称，危机过去发生过，未来也必将再次发生。
“可以把它想象成森林地板上的引火物，”他说。”最终，会有某种火花出现——在不同时期，这种火花可能不会点燃整个森林，但当这种引火物堆积到一定程度时，任何一点火花都可能引发大火。这种情况最终会发生吗？不可避免。”
并非所有人都能预料到这位出生于布朗克斯、成长于布鲁克林的亿万富翁会走上企业高管的巅峰之路。
布兰克费恩在布鲁克林东纽约区的公共住房中长大，与祖母同住一间小公寓。”上大学前，我要么和妹妹、要么和祖母同住一间卧室，”他说。”那个街区变得越来越危险。我就读的高中最终因办学质量差而关闭，但在我就读期间，它就已经摇摇欲坠。”
他的父亲身兼两份工作，其中一份是邮局职员。为了获得10%的奖金，他需要上夜班：”我几乎见不到他。我希望我能更了解他。”
布兰克费恩说，他只在父亲退休前拜访过他一次工作场所：”父亲和其他几个人坐在一起。他身后是一台被塑料布包裹的大型机器。我问，’那是什么？’那是一台电子邮件分拣机，它本可以更快、零错误地完成他的工作。我看着它，心里很难过。我想，我不知道自己将来会不会成为世界上最有影响力的人，但我不想做无足轻重的事情。”
于是，他在学业上发奋努力，申请哈佛大学并在16岁时被录取。
当被问及从童年到高盛CEO的经历中获得了什么时，布兰克费恩回答：”我经历的每一个挑战，不一定是我主动选择的。但每一个强加给我的挑战，最终都以某种方式成为了一种祝福，因为它让我有了不同的视角，让我更具韧性。”
前高盛CEO劳埃德·布兰克费恩与记者乔·林·肯特合影。 CBS新闻
他在新回忆录《街头智慧：进入并通过高盛》（Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs）中记录了自己的经历，该书由Penguin Press出版。
他的第一份金融工作是在大宗商品交易领域。他表示，当时的交易大厅与现在截然不同。”人们通过大喊大叫进行交流，”他说。”我记得我曾经面试人时，我站在交易大厅的一边，面试者站在另一边。我会让面试者隔着大厅大喊来完成部分面试，看看那个人的声音是否足够响亮，能够穿透整个交易室。如今，你能听到针落地的声音。”
Penguin Press
1981年，当高盛收购他所在的公司时，布兰克费恩开始了他的晋升之路，并于2006年成为高盛董事长兼CEO。不久后，他就面临考验。
在《街头智慧》一书中，他写道：”在华尔街，没有人经历过2007-2008年全球金融危机那样灾难性和戏剧性的事件。”
当被问及我们是否仍在感受这场危机的影响时，布兰克费恩回答：”我认为人们认为这场危机导致了不公平的结果，即系统被——我讨厌用这个被过度使用的词——’操纵’，以有利于地位更高、更有权势的人和有政治权力的人。这是人们的看法。”
危机始于金融机构支持高风险的次级抵押贷款，导致大规模房地产泡沫最终破裂，银行和消费者都受到冲击。
那么，商界和金融界的精英们为何没有预见到这一点？”罗斯福为何让所有战舰在珍珠港停泊，却不知道日本人正走向战争？”布兰克费恩反问道。”事后诸葛亮总是看得很清楚，但泡沫的本质就是你根本看不到它。”
2008年，政府介入，注资2500亿美元稳定大型银行。相比之下，它仅投入460亿美元帮助家庭避免丧失抵押品赎回权。
布兰克费恩说：”你必须让银行摆脱困境，这样它们才能履行将资金输送出去的中介职能。但对很多人来说——我理解这一点——这还不够严厉。”
在危机中，布兰克费恩成为了被视为华尔街贪婪象征的公众形象。2010年，他和其他银行高管在国会听证会上就危机原因接受严厉质询。
参议员卡尔·莱文： “你在推销某种证券的同时，却采取反对它的立场，你不觉得困扰吗？”
布兰克费恩： “参议员，再说一次……”
莱文： “你希望人们信任你吗？”
布兰克费恩： “参议员，我认为人们确实信任我们。”
莱文： “为什么人们会信任你——我不会信任你！”
2016年，高盛同意与司法部就误导投资者关于其销售的大量抵押贷款支持证券质量的问题达成和解，支付50亿美元。”所有机构都达成了和解，”布兰克费恩说。”与政府争辩从来不是一个有利的选择。我们努力达成和解，这是所有各方都同意的，以便我们都能继续前进。”
自2018年离开高盛后，布兰克费恩仍会自行买卖股票。他是《自由新闻》（与CBS新闻同属派拉蒙-斯凯丹斯旗下）的早期投资者。他支持母校哈佛大学，已向其捐赠数百万美元：”我认为教育是大多数人进入中产阶级和上层阶级的真正加速器，”他说。
不过，在就业方面，布兰克费恩认为旨在增加多样性的项目并未创造更多机会。他在书中写道：”我们在公司为少数族裔开展的特殊项目往往适得其反。”
“这可能会激怒其他人，但我认为如果你将某事物贴上’补救项目’的标签，你实际上也给参与该项目的人贴上了标签，”他说。”我认为这种情况确实会发生，并且会适得其反。但我认为还有另一种选择。就是去做实事。你为推进职业生涯所做的项目，为所有人提供的教育，把这些做好，你猜怎么着？这将不成比例地帮助最需要帮助的人，这可能包括那些原本可能参加这些多元化、公平与包容性（DEI）项目的人。”
至于那场将定义他大部分遗产的危机，他是否对发生的事情感到内疚或懊悔？
“嗯，不是内疚，我是说，是悲伤，”他说。在《街头智慧》中，他写道：”对我来说，失去投资者的钱比失去我们自己的钱感觉更糟。”
“我现在仍然这么觉得，”他说。”我从高盛退休后，很多人问我，’你会帮我管理钱吗？’我不想——你知道，我卸下了那个责任。我不想再承担了，我不想让人们失望。也许这源于我的童年或其他什么原因。”
当被问及是否感到强烈的个人责任感时，布兰克费恩回答：”是的，我一直都有。如果你愿意称之为内疚，你可以给它起其他名字。但我一直觉得自己有责任。”
阅读节选： 劳埃德·布兰克费恩《街头智慧》
更多信息：
《街头智慧：进入并通过高盛》（Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs*），作者劳埃德·布兰克费恩，Penguin Press出版，精装版、电子书和有声书形式，可通过Amazon、Barnes & Noble和Bookshop.org购买
故事由Wonbo Woo制作。编辑：George Pozderec。
查看更多：
- “经济将走向何方？”专家解读美国不确定的经济未来（《周日早晨》）
分类：
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein talks Wall Street crises, past and future
2026-03-08T10:25:00-0400 / CBS News
By
Jo Ling Kent Senior Business and Technology Correspondent
Journalist Jo Ling Kent joined CBS News in July 2023 as the senior business and technology correspondent for CBS News. Kent has more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of technology and business in the U.S., as well as the emergence of China as a global economic power.
Updated on: March 8, 2026 / 10:29 AM EDT / CBS News
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a bad event,” said Lloyd Blankfein. “It’s been 17 years since the financial crisis.” The former CEO of Goldman Sachs, who led the bank through that historic crisis, says it happened before, so it’ll happen again.
“Think of it as kindling on the floor of a forest,” he said. “Eventually, some spark will happen that in different times might not have set the forest on fire, but when this kind of kindling accumulates, some spark will do that. Will that happen eventually? Inevitably, it will happen.”
What was not inevitable was the Bronx-born, Brooklyn-bred billionaire’s path to the top of the C-Suite.
Blankfein grew up in public housing in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, in a small apartment shared with his grandmother. “I shared a bedroom with either my sister or my grandmother until I went off to college,” he said. “The neighborhood became more dangerous. The high school I went to eventually was shut down as a failing high school, but it was pretty much failing when I was there.”
His father held down two jobs, including as a clerk at the post office. To get a 10-percent bonus, he worked the night shift: “I barely saw him. I wish I had known him better.”
Blankfein says he only visited his father at work once, just before he retired: “Dad was sitting with a row of other guys. And behind him was this huge machine wrapped in plastic. I said, ‘What is that?’ It was an electronic mail sorter that could’ve done his job much faster without any risk of making a mistake. And I looked at that, and it was so sad for me. And I thought to myself, I don’t know if I’ll do something, be the most consequential person in the world, but I didn’t want to do something inconsequential.”
So, he buckled down in school, applied to Harvard, and got in when he was just 16.
Asked what he took from his childhood to being CEO of Goldman Sachs, Blankfein replied, “Every challenge I ever had, I wouldn’t necessarily have volunteered for. But every one that was foisted upon me turned out to be a blessing in some way, because it gave me a different outlook. It made me more resilient.”
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein with correspondent Jo Ling Kent. CBS News
He writes about his experiences in his new memoir, “Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs” (Penguin Press).
His first finance job was in commodities trading. Back then, he says, trading floors were very different. “People communicated by shouting,” he said. “I remember I used to interview people, I used to stand on one side of the trading floor and have the interviewee stand on the other. And I used to make that person do part of the interview shouting across the floor just to see if that person had the voice that could rise to the level that could carry across a trading room. Today, you can hear a pin drop.”
Penguin Press
When Goldman Sachs acquired the firm he was working for in 1981, Blankfein began his ascent to the top, becoming the bank’s Chairman and CEO in 2006. It wasn’t long before he was put to the test.
In “Streetwise,” he writes: “No one alive on Wall Street has ever experienced anything as calamitous and dramatic as the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.”
Asked if we are still feeling the effects of that crisis, Blankfein replied, “I think it was regarded as producing unfair outcomes of the system being – I hate to use this overused word – rigged in favor of the higher and mightier, and people with political power. That was the perception.”
The crisis began with financial institutions backing high-risk, sub-prime mortgages, that led to a massive housing bubble which eventually collapsed, bringing with it both banks and consumers.
So, how did the best minds in business and finance not see this coming? “How did Roosevelt leave all those ships tied up together in Pearl Harbor, and not know that the Japanese were on a path to war?” Blankfein said. “Hindsight is 20/20, but the nature of a bubble is that you’re just not seeing it.”
The government intervened in 2008, infusing $250 billion to stabilize the big banks. By contrast, it committed just $46 billion to help families avoid foreclosure.
Blankfein said, “You had to get the banks out of distress so they would perform their intermediation role of getting money out there. But for a lot of people – and I understand this – it wasn’t punishment enough.”
Blankfein was the public face of what was perceived as Wall Street greed in the crisis. In 2010, he and other bank executives got raked over the coals during Congressional hearings investigating what happened.
_Sen. Carl Levin: “You are taking a position against the very security that you are selling, and you are not troubled?”
Blankfein: “Senator, again …”
Levin: “And you want people to trust you?”
Blankfein: “Senator, I think people do trust us.”
Levin: “Why would people – I wouldn’t trust you!”_
Then in 2016, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5 billion as part of a settlement with the Justice Department for misleading investors about the quality of many of the mortgage-backed securities it was selling. “All the institutions settled,” Blankfein said. “Arguing with the government is never a winning proposition. You work to achieve a settlement, that was something that was agreeable to all parties, so that we could all move forward.”
Since leaving Goldman in 2018, Blankfein still buys and sells stocks, just for himself. He was an early investor in The Free Press (which, like CBS News, is owned by Paramount-Skydance). He supports his alma mater, Harvard, where he has given millions: “I think education is the real accelerator for most people into the middle and upper classes,” he said.
In the workforce, though, Blankfein believes programs aimed at increasing diversity do not provide more opportunity. In his book he writes: “Special programs we ran for minorities at the firm were often counterproductive.”
“That may be a provocation to other people. But I think if you brand something a remedial program, you’re kind of also branding the people who go into that program,” he said. “And I think that happens. And I think that becomes counterproductive. But I think there’s another alternative. Just do the stuff. The programs that you do to advance the careers, the education for everybody, do those very well, and guess what? That’ll disproportionately help the people who need it the most, which might include the people that would’ve otherwise been in those DEI programs.”
As for the crisis that will define much of his legacy, does he feel a sense of guilt, or remorse, about what happened?”
“Well, not guilt. I mean, sorrow,” he said. In “Streetwise” he writes, “Losing investors’ money felt worse to me than losing our own.”
“I still feel that way today,” he said. “After I retired from Goldman, a lot of people said, ‘Will you manage my money?’ And I didn’t want that – you know, I shed that responsibility. I didn’t want to have it back again. I didn’t want to disappoint people. Maybe that’s from my childhood or from wherever.”
Asked if he feels a sense of great personal responsibility, Blankfein replied, “I do. I always did. And if you want to call it guilt, you can call it by other names. But I’ve always felt accountable.”
READ AN EXCERPT:”Streetwise” by Lloyd Blankfein
For more info:
- “Streetwise: Getting To and Through Goldman Sachs”by Lloyd Blankfein (Penguin Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available viaAmazon,Barnes & NobleandBookshop.org
Story produced by Wonbo Woo. Editor: George Pozderec.
*
See more:
- “Where is the economy going?” Experts on America’s uncertain economic future (“Sunday Morning”)
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- Wall Street
- Goldman Sachs