????高盛（Goldman Sachs）公布了上市以來的第二個季度虧損，這也是它2008年底那些灰暗的日子以來首次出現這種情況。這個消息也讓保羅?沃爾克有了更加充分的理由來進一步加大力度，推動其“取締投資銀行自有賬戶交易”的提案。

????基本上，沃爾克法則的目標是讓投資銀行回歸傳統業務：經紀交易，為美國企業提供可靠的融資平臺，以及管理美國商業領域的資金。然而，隨著時間的推進，銀行業不再滿足于通過為他人賺錢而收取費用，而是決定為自己賺錢，用自有資金進行大量交易。事實上，他們變得有點像對沖基金，成為規模龐大的投機冒險機器。正是這些自有資金參與推動了2008年的世界經濟危機，此后，沃爾克一直在倡議遏制此類行為，呼吁投行應專注于傳統職責，為金融市場提供流動性和專業服務。

????高盛本季度表現到底如何？事實上，可以說相當好。當然，前提是只是看它作為投資銀行分內的業務。高盛的投行業務實現了盈利，包括金融咨詢服務和股票承銷。機構客戶服務（如執行交易）也實現了盈利。投資管理業務（包括保持創紀錄的企業現金的安全）同樣也實現了盈利。

????那么，它本季凈虧損4.28億美元到底從何而來？虧損正是源于沃爾克所說的銀行不該從事的交易。

????高盛直管自有資金交易的投行部門損失慘重。高盛自有賬戶在股票組合上損失超過10億美元，在債券市場中損失9.07億美元，對中國工商銀行（the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China）的超大規模投資減值10.45億美元——總損失高達25億美元，這也是周二早間高盛股價低開的原因。

????高盛的捍衛者們可能會舉出以往這部分業務為公司帶來高額利潤的那些季度，包括去年所持工商銀行股票帶來的數十億美元增值。但沃爾克和呼吁投行改革的人士表示，大型金融機構是國民經濟的重要基礎，沒有理由放任美國經濟被大金融機構的投機失敗所劫持，也沒有理由在這些投機失控時拿納稅人的錢來救助（2008年就是一個例子）。

????IPO市場走弱導致的虧損是一回事。但是，如果因為賭定日本商人會把更多時間花在打高爾夫上，從而導致虧損就是另外一回事了。

????Goldman Sachs reported just its second quarterly loss since it went public and the first since the dark days of late 2008. It also gave Paul Volcker a great big reason to push harder for his proposal to clamp down on investment banks trading for their own accounts.

????Basically, the Volcker rule aims to get investment banks back to what they historically do: broker trades, act as a trusted vehicle to get corporate America funding, and manage the commercial sector's money. Over time banks decided they wanted to make their own money and trade heavily for their own benefit rather than relying on fees from making other people money. Essentially, they became like hedge funds -- big speculative, risk-taking machines. Volcker has been proselytizing to rein them in since these in-house funds helped crash the world economy in 2008, arguing they should focus on their traditional roles of providing liquidity and expertise to the financial markets.

????How did Goldman do this quarter? Pretty good, if you look just at what an investment bank is supposed to do. The bank made money from its Investment Banking arm, which includes financial advisory services and equity underwriting. It made money on Institutional Client Services, such as executing trades. It made money on Investment Management, which includes keeping safe the record levels of cash corporations hold.

????So how did it post a net loss of $428 million this quarter? By doing all those things Volcker says banks shouldn't be doing.

????Goldman's Investment & Banking division, which is its umbrella division for trading its own capital to make profits, took a bath. Goldman's house account lost over $1 billion on its equities portfolio, got burned for $907 million in losses in the debt market and saw its outsized investment in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China drop $1.045 billion in value -- a total loss of $2.5 billion and the reason Goldman shares have opened weaker this morning.

????Goldman (GS) defenders will point to prior quarters where the division posted large profits for the company, including a multi-billion gain on its ICBC shares last year. But Volcker and other investment banking reformers say that there's no reason for the economy to be held hostage to bad speculative bets by institutions that are a fundamental part of a working economy - and take taxpayer bailouts when those bets get out of hand (see 2008).

????It's one thing to lose money because the IPO market has softened. It's another to lose money betting Japanese businessmen will play more golf.