I question your wisdom when you refer to the motivations of huge enterprises like GS and the Fed, with thousands of employees, like they have a singular view.

As far as my naivete, well, I have friends that work for the Bank of Canada (a central bank...scary!) as well as on Bay and Wall Street inside big investment banks (though not GS, unfortunately) They're just regular guys punching the clock. Not evil.

But, judging by your understanding of how the stock market and IPO system works, it's pretty clear you have very little sense of finance, let alone how banking or the Federal Reserve system works. The fact that you cited Inside Job as your source reveals where you get your information from. Don't worry, you're not alone. There's a whole sub-culture out there that refuses to accept the fact that there is no banking conspiracy, that the Fed's motivations are clear and their actions are documented. 90% of the goings on in the financial world can be explained simply and logically. Big banks are out to make money, and how they do so is pretty straight forward. The Fed guys are academics, not evil geniuses. Have you ever listened to Bernanke's talks? The guy is as meek and nerdy as they come. Is that a clever ruse?

I hang around enough forums to know that it's very unlikely that you're willing to have your mind changed. If I'm wrong, I'm open to debating whatever (in another forum of course) If not, let's just agree to disagree.