Just as the financial markets were collapsing, Warren Buffett made a timely bet on Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). The move seemed to validate the investment banker at its industry's biggest time of crisis. For a brief moment in time, Goldman was the golden child.

How quickly things turn, as Goldman Sachs has become a fire hydrant for the financial media's attack dogs.

The latest smear involving Goldman Sachs is that the banker allegedly helped Greece cover up its financial shortfalls. The key word there is "allegedly," since it seems as if Goldman Sachs is a popular name to blame for everything short of earthquakes and the Chicago Cubs.  

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • So close, yet so far. Sirius XM Radio's (Nasdaq: SIRI) streak of closing above the $1 mark ended at just eight trading days, two shy of what Nasdaq was requiring to eradicate its delisting warning. The satellite-radio giant will now appeal the delisting process.
  • TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) scored another legal victory in enforcing its patents, with a U.S. appeals court finding DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH) and EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS) in contempt for infringing on TiVo's intellectual property. If DISH had a legal right to unlicensed time-shifting, it would probably love to hit the rewind button, go back a few years, and play this differently.
  • The odds may be stacked against it, but Sony (NYSE: SNE) will be rolling out electronic gadgetry this year that will challenge both Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone and upcoming iPad. This isn't the first time a company is hoping to launch an iPhone killer. For now, they have all been firing blanks.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz