The fact that Taibbi’s iconic phrase had appeared in Rolling Stone, widely seen as a touchstone of US culture at the time, further cemented it into the minds of the general public. But while Taibbi might have cast Goldman Sachs as the squid, its rival, JPMorgan, is taking the analogy one step further. For JPMorgan, it is the US itself that is demonstrating squid-like characteristics.
What animal do you think best represents the US? For many, it’s the bald eagle, which has served as the country’s national symbol since 1782. A less flattering option would be the squid. The multi-limbed creature, with its all-encroaching tentacles, is perhaps a more fitting symbol of the US given its unparalleled influence on the global stage.
On April 5, 2010, journalist Matt Taibbi compared US investment bank Goldman Sachs to a “great vampire squid” in a piece for Rolling Stone magazine. Goldman Sachs was “relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money” and had its grip firmly “wrapped around the face of humanity,” wrote Taibbi in his story, “The Great American Bubble Machine”.
