Goldman Sachs’s disastrous Main Street gamble

How hard can it be? Goldman Sachs is supposed to employ the sharpest minds in finance. Traders on the other side of a deal shake in fear; bosses flock to its bankers for advice; investors hang on its analysts’ every word. In 2016, when Goldman launched its consumer business, it seemed only a matter of time before these masters of the universe mastered the pedestrian business of making loans to ordinary people. But it is clear now—after the third reshuffle in almost as many years was announced on October 18th—that Goldman should have stuck to Wall Street.