Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Here's an interesting echo of my own mind found on line. It's about Galdman Sachs and it's incredible reports of profits for the past quarter. It's just an edotorial piece, but it reflects what a lot of Americans who are struggling with the transition from an economy based on manufacturing to one based on service. This shift has left many who have been born and raised with the pride of a good day's work making and building things that are now being made and built in other parts of the world.

One has to wonder whether we can continue as a nation which builds and creates nothing yet has to somehow serve those who have the money to pay their servants. This can't continue forever, of course. How much time is left until those who are scraping for their families take their economy back from those who shipped their jobs overseas?

Wall Street titan should explain what he does for a living - CNN.com

Wall Street titan should explain what he does for a living

"If the final quarter continues on this prosperous pace, Goldman's year-end bonus pool may exceed $20 billion, according to the New York Times -- enough to pay its 31,700 employees an average of $700,000."

"Goldman, and the other Wall Street giants, don't manufacture anything, other than those profits. What they do is, by definition, immensely lucrative. But for individual Americans who used to produce automobiles for a living, and no longer can; who want to build furniture for a living, but are no longer able to find an employer; who spend day after day, week after week, looking for a way to support their families. ..."

"...it would be instructive to hear Blankfein spell out, in unambiguous terms, just what it is that he and his colleagues do to make their money. If he is able to present his story convincingly, it could even be inspiring. There are a lot of children around the country who don't have much hope as the holidays approach. Maybe, if Blankfein expresses himself clearly enough, he could make them somehow believe they could grow up to be like him. You would assume that there is a learnable set of skills that combine to create a Wall Street titan. Perhaps Blankfein would be willing to share at least a little of the secret. Tell the rest of America how they might join the club."

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Its a good thing none of these Goldman guys are running the Fed, or the Treasury....


Insert 'internet eye roll face thing' here....

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Exactly and you love them. What do you think cap and trade is all about? Those industries whom will not be able to survive within U.S. shores, or choose not to. Will be shipped overseas. How will their products come back into this company? That's right sold as commodities or the mercantile exchange. Nice to see the Democrat's rolling around with the hog's on Wall Street. Oh by the way, I left this out. Peace and save the planet?

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

You think the director of last summer's Star Trek just had 150 million to shell out? or even the studio just had that sort of cash laying around?

You think the Doctor that had the tiny kernel of an idea that eventually became the drug that's keeping ol' Harryboy healthy and alive had $300 million to dump into developing it?

Did Kraft have a giant pile of cash in his old office to build Gillette that he just dipped into as construction moved along?

Here's one for you specifically, Wista. If you got sick and tired of lugging heavy and underpowered cordless drills around that needed new batteries every 6 months maybe you would have come up with the way to adapt Lithium Ion tech to power tools. Where would you have gotten the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to exploit that idea?

That's what these guys do and if not for them the only place to go to get that sort of cash is the government. Do that and you get movies starring women who look like linebackers, a dead Harry, a stadium worse than Foxboro and cordless power tools that weigh 15 pounds

We can't blame them if they obeyed the law. If they acted criminally like Madoff then hang 'em from the first tree you find; but if they acted legally then the people to blame are the ones who put the laws in place.

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Yeah but how come all these people with the loads of cash, had to um, get bailed out by the gubmit? Last I checked, and contrary to what Patters thinks, that money they got was actually ours. Just sayin.

I don't have an issue with people making money. The idea that Wall Street is to blame for the auto industries demise, or the evaporation of manufacturing, is misguided. I don't envy, nor do I want to penalize, success. However, the fact that GS is raking in billions in bonus money, after it's entire industry was bailed out by my hard earned dime, does bother me. It bothers me immensely. It's why people are so upset about what's been going on in gubmit.

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

They paid the money back, they're supposedly obeying the law, their stockholders have no problem with the bonuses they're giving out.

What's left?

I sure as hell ain't happy with my current financial position and I'm not convinced its all my fault; but I'm not prepared to look at someone who's benefiting from this mess and automatically assume they're doing it on my back.

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

I may surprise some members with my opinion on this issue, but those who are familiar with my political beliefs know it's very consistent with my positions on corporate America.

I fully support salary limits in all aspects of the financial industry. After all, this industry is fueled by the citizens of this country (kinda like our gov't). I also support a heavily regulated financial industry. And no, that's not socialism folks!

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Regulation, in and of itself, shouldn't be considered a bad word. It's the type of regulations that matter.

Salary limits are ridiculous. Only the industry should determine what the proper compensation is. Its why I despise the bailouts so much. Lessons were not learned, which is evident by the bonuses people are going to earn from the infusion of my money.

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

The "Law" doesn't cover every aspect of behavior or morality. When a crew from Halliburton murders an Iraqi civilian but they are protected from prosecution by a "Law", what difference does it make? I know that's a severe analogy, but these people make as many bad decisions as good ones, as we witnessed last November. The fact that they didn't break any laws doesn't remove them or, more accurately, their system from responsibility.

One of my best friends is a financial planner and he takes your position, but he never explains the basic aspect of the gluttony of their actions. He will readily admit- to his credit and my amazement- that what he does for a living is nothing compared to a water quality engineer, nurse or an airplane mechanic or pilot, and yet he earns ten times more money than they do while working and doing less. He is also free to admit that he feels "guilty" sometimes when he does his taxes. I'm sure there are many of his colleagues who spend a lot of anguish trying to think of how much more they could be making by selling useless financial products and maneuvers. Hell, maybe he does, too. And he's a bottom-feeder in his pyramid scheme organization. His higher-ups do even less while making exponentially more.

It's a matter of proportion. It's a matter of caring for your fellow human being. You don't take ten potatoes for yourself when your neighbors' children are starving just because you got there first.

Re: Wall Street: What Do They Do?
 

Wall Street i-bankers are mostly middle men, no different from a used car salesman or a real estate agent. The only difference is the amount they take home is huge, since they skim a bit off of multi-million and billion dollar deals.

Just like with other middlemen, there is a decreasing need for people like this in the modern world.

The traders are incentivized to take huge risks, since that is how they're paid out. If they lose, it's not their money.