Goldman Sachs is engaged in a public war of words with Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, over an article authored by Taibbi published in the current issue of the magazine. The thesis of the 12-page story titled, “The Wall Street Bubble Mafia: How Goldman Sachs took over Washington by engineering every major market manipulation since the Great Depression,” focuses on Goldman’s ability to profit from and persevere through booms and busts that have taken down rival banks.

Lucas Van Praag, a Goldman spokesman, contested the story’s claims saying, “[Taibbi's] story is an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories. Notable ones missing are Goldman Sachs as the third shooter [in John F. Kennedy's assassination] and faking the first lunar landing,” in an email to the New York Post on June 30.

Rolling Stone argues that Goldman participated in, and made hay during, five of the great financial manias of the past century and it’s about to do the same in one on the horizon: investment trusts in the 1920s; the 1990s tech boom; the housing craze; the oil spike; the financial bailout; and the incipient market for carbon credits – all thanks to undue influence in Washington.

• Taibbi's response to Goldman