 The Wild Wild World of Wealth |  |
Here’s something to consider the next time that trader yells in a throaty voice, “Five million Buckeye 5 7/8′s of ’47 to go at six.” Traders earn more money than neurosurgeons. So do I-bankers. According to Bloomberg today, the comparison isn’t even close.
In the Senate chamber yesterday, our elected officials grilled reps from Goldman Sachs. The Senators illustrated, I think, the outrage felt by Americans over bailout dollars that turned into banker bonuses. Even if—Senator Carl Levin trash-talked with the kind of language that triggered FCC fines of shock-jock Howard Stern:
Is paranoia necessary to survive on Wall Street?
In one sense, Goldman Sachs is no different from any other investment bank on Wall Street. When it comes to protecting the brand, junior employees are expendable. Like goldfish, investment banks eat their young when self-interest make cannibalism seem rationale.
We’ve all heard about what Government should do to strengthen the financial industry but what about bankers themselves? If Wall Street is serious about maintaining leadership in global finance over the long term, banks could already be implementing smart changes to enable just that. Here’s what Wall Street can do right now to regain its credibility—without waiting for Washington.
Michael Lewis has done it again. The Big Short is a must read, even if you don’t know anything about finance. With his trademark ability to identify unlikely heroes, he chronicles the lives of people who bet against subprime mortgages. The prose is lucid. The explanations make sense. And Lewis explains what happened behind the scenes leading up to Wall Street’s 2008 debacle.
I just watched the 60 Minutes segment on Michael Lewis and his new book, “The Big Short.” He had some terrific sound bites including my favorite about AIG: “…they didn’t know the mistake they were making.” Here’s one reason I’m buying the book. Watch CBS News Videos Online As a stockbroker, I was wary of [...]
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