奥克兰（Oakland）的领导人周二时表示他们目前所经历的经济经济困境主要都是由高盛（Goldman Sachs）造成的，并且呼吁其他城市与他们一起并肩作战，共同对抗这个引发对美国金融领域批评浪潮的罪魁祸首。
奥克兰正在极力摆脱由高盛促成的利率互换，因为这种利率互换让本来就资金急缺的奥克兰每年还要再花费400万美元。这种互换行为，在15年前还能作为一部分的债券销售去对冲上涨的利率，现在却已经不是那么回事了，奥克兰现在的利率接近零。
“我真心希望其他城市可以和我们并肩作战，”奥克兰市议会成员德斯利·布鲁克斯（Desley Brooks）在高盛位于旧金山的办公楼门口这样想30名抗议者致辞。奥克兰如今不得不削减部分城市服务和解雇一些警察，即使当地的犯罪率很高且城市疾病率不低。
即使现在利率水平处于历史低点，奥克兰还是要就互换支付5.68%的费用。解除合同的话则需要支付1600万美元的终止费用，奥克兰市方面希望高盛可以放弃收取终止费用。
城市经济的相关知情人透露，最近终止费已经改成200万美元。
高盛的一名发言人拒绝就其与奥克兰市的交易作出任何评价。
国家各地的许多市政当局和机构面临着利率互换的问题，与此同时当地政府也正面对着前所未有的金融压力。着这样一个时刻，不景气的经济，税收收入下滑，加上飙升的养老金和医疗成本给了许多地方政府沉重的打击。
许多城市和乡镇都身处困境，加州尤为严重：斯托克顿市（Stockton）申请了破产保护，圣贝纳迪诺市（San Bernardino）可能也会做出同样举措，全国各地的地方政府正在削减市政服务和试图提高税收以平衡预算。
旧金山市政府将支付高盛和其它银行约1700万美元的互换费用以缓解其债务融资问题，旧金山地区主管乔恩·阿表示抗议。
后来，他表示，他计划在未来数周考虑旧金山是否应该尝试重新与高盛协商支付事宜。
分析师和工会表示必须支付费用的该地区的其他城市和机构，包括：门洛帕克市（Menlo Park）就利率互换今年将花费大约310万美金支付给各类银行；匹兹堡（Pittsburg）将支付360万美元左右；地铁交通委员会（Metro Transportation Commission）则将支付4860万美元左右。
为了回应5月的高盛集团的年度会议上的记者就奥克兰利率问题的提问，董事长劳埃德·布兰克费恩表示，该行没有资格结束合同。
“金融体系不是这么运作的，”他说，还特意强调大多数借款人更愿意撕毁协议，并将其替换为今天的低利率。“我们会坦率地削减了股东的利益和公司的运作，我不认为你们这样发文时公平合适的。”
但在周二的抗议中公民领袖表示，在2008年的金融危机中，该行得益于政府救助计划，所以现在它应该给予奥克兰等城市休息喘息的机会。
“高盛得到了援助，可我们却遭到了背叛。”示威者高呼着。其中一个还戴了一顶高帽子，上面的标语写着“空头支票先生”，暗示对高盛向图书馆、消防员和城市公园宰钱的讽刺。
市议会投票表示，如果高盛在9月底之前不终止奥克兰互换协议的义务，就不再与高盛做生意。
一位知情人表示，奥克兰和高盛一直在就此事协商讨论，然而却相形渐远，高盛方面表态愿意削减奥克兰将要的支付的几十万美元，可是奥克兰市方面却希望一分钱不付彻底摆脱支付合同。
“对于那些没有成功的合理交易众说纷纭，”表示自己对于奥克兰利率互换之事不甚了解的，加州经济可持续研究中心（Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy）的斯蒂芬·利维（Stephen Levy）这样说道。在不得不支付的条款中，他问道：“为什么奥克兰对于玉米、石油或其他不确定的东西的对冲感到漠不关心？”
底特律（Detroit）在2009年的时候曾经通过一再协商重新修改了其互换协议，但其信用评级下降所要付出的代价却远远不止这些要支付的钱了。
据汤森路透社的数据显示，在2012年上半年市政债券的记录簿上，高盛排名第五。
Oakland leaders took their financial troubles to the doorstep of Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, urging other cities to join them in fighting a bank that has become a lightning rod for criticism of the U.S. financial system.
Oakland is trying to get out of a Goldman-brokered interest rate swap that is costing the cash-starved city some $4 million a year. The swap, entered into 15 years ago as part of a bond sale to hedge against rising interest rates, has turned sour for Oakland now that interest rates are near zero.
"I hope that other cities will follow our lead," said Oakland city council member Desley Brooks, addressing about 30 protesters outside Goldman's San Francisco offices. Oakland has had to slash city services and lay off police officers even as it wrestles with a high crime rate and other urban ills.
Oakland is paying 5.68 percent on debt associated with the swap, even with interest rates at record lows. Getting out of the contract would cost the city $16 million in termination fees, it says; it wants Goldman to waive the termination fees.
A $2 million payment on the swap was made Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the city's finances.
A spokeswoman at Goldman declined to comment on its dealings with Oakland.
Many municipalities and agencies around the country face problems with interest rate swaps at a time of unprecedented financial pressure on local governments. Slumping tax revenues in a sluggish economy combined with soaring pension and healthcare costs have hit many local governments hard.
The fiscal crisis facing cities and towns is particularly severe in California: the city of Stockton has filed for bankruptcy protection, the city of San Bernardino is expected to do the same, and local governments around the state are slashing services and trying to raise taxes to balance budgets.
The city of San Francisco will pay around $17 million in swap fees this year to Goldman and other banks connected to debt financing for its airport, San Francisco Supervisor Jon Avalos said at the protest.
Afterwards, he said he planned to explore over coming weeks whether San Francisco should attempt to renegotiate its payments with Goldman.
Other cities and agencies in the region that analysts and unions say must pay swap fees to a variety of banks include the city of Menlo Park, which will pay around $3.1 million this year; the city of Pittsburg, which will pay around $3.6 million; and the Metro Transportation Commission, which will pay around $48.6 million.
In response to a question about the Oakland interest-rate swap at Goldman Sachs Group Inc's annual meeting in May, chairman Lloyd Blankfein said the bank was not in a position to end the contract.
"That's not how the financial system could work," he said, noting that most borrowers would prefer to tear up higher-interest agreements and replace them with today's low rates. "We would be frankly paring the interests of our shareholders and the operations of the company. I don't think it's a fair thing to ask."
But at Tuesday's protest, civic leaders said the bank had benefited from a government rescue package during the 2008 financial crisis, and now it should give a break to cities like Oakland.
"They got bailed out. We got sold out," the protesters chanted. One of them wore a paper top hat bearing the label "Mr. Blank Check", and as part of a skit ripped funds from libraries, firemen and city parks.
The City Council has voted to stop doing business with Goldman if it doesn't let Oakland out of its swap obligation by the end of September.
The city and Goldman have been discussing some sort of break on the payments, but the two sides remain far apart, with Goldman willing to shave a few hundred thousand dollars from the payments, while the city wants to get out of the payments altogether, a person familiar with the discussions said.
"There's a lot of pandering and accusations about perfectly reasonable deals that didn't work out," said Stephen Levy of the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, who said he wasn't familiar with the Oakland swaps. In terms of having to pay up, "Why should the cities be different to anyone else who hedges against corn or oil or uncertainty?" he asked.
The city of Detroit was able to renegotiate its swap agreements in 2009, but a drop in its credit rating could require the city to pay more fees on those swaps.
Goldman ranks fifth for the first half of 2012 as book runner of municipal bonds, according to Thomson Reuters data.
