Let's shed a tear for the barons of Wall St.

[germdoc]

Gee, I guess they may not be able to summer in the Hamptons after all...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/bu...pagewanted=all

[cgallery]

Wow that was a good read.

Of course, we've heard it all before ("end of an era, we will never see anything like it again, it is finally going to change, blah blah blah blah").

But the truth is, as long as human nature remains what it is (namely, some people will lie/cheat/steal to make every buck they flaunt), Wall Street will be back.

BTW, I guarantee you that, at this very moment, thousands of Wall Street types of scheming up ways they can profit on the bailout. Come Monday morning there will be numerous presentations put together that will highlight how new organizations can help Treasury conduct the bailout (for a piece, of course).

[jackellis]

Good read indeed.

There have been periodic downturns in the economy (and all around the world) not unlike this one. Some were called "panics", some were called "recessions", and one was called The Great Depression. Because markets are driven by fear and greed, those of us who still have most of their lives ahead of them can expect to see something like this happen again at least once in their lives.

I doubt more government regulation will prevent a recurrence. Even in economies that are much more heavily regulated than ours, there are booms and busts. The demise of the Soviet Union was, in part, due to their reliance on oil revenues. When the price of oil fell to $10, their economy, centrally planned though it was, fell apart.

Besides, the folks who dream up and then enforce regulations are human, just like the folks who are responsible for the current mess.

[Uncle Cracker]

I have a strong feeling that the memory of this most recent "hiccup" will linger. I'd be willing to bet that anybody who has investment capital or disposable earnings in the near future will be much more choosy about what (and when) they do with it...

[Bruce Cohen]

Yup,

I even shed a tear or two at the news footage of all those greedy little yuppie snots, looking down in the mouth as they were carting their boxed of "personal" possessions into their Beemers.

Gee, ain't life unfair. Now they will have to live like all the rest of us, no more shopping at Brooks Brothers or Barney's ( an ultra high end clothing store for men here in NYC!!

Bruce

[Hellrazor]

Like everyone else, they screwed up and they have to pay the piper. Everything has been a mess since the dot.com boom inflated everything.

[ragswl4]

I hope I am wrong but some if not all of the bailout will probably be "Money down a rat role". The same folks that were supposedly watching and making the rules to ensure this didn't happen are now magically going to fix it. Lot of BS. If I see some politicians and CEOs go to jail then maybe I could believe that the "fixers" do have our interest at heart. I won't hold my breath!

[jlm]

What I found most illuminating was that, up until the bill passed, those in favor of it like Paulson were screaming that it had to be done RIGHT THIS MINUTE, or we'd all lose our houses, our savings, our jobs, everything in our freezers would spoil, and our pets would likely die. The instant it passed, the story immediately changed to "there won't be an immediate effect from this. In fact, we might not see any results for several months." But we can all rest assured that whatever positive economic news we see in the coming year or two, will be credited to this bill, regardless of any actual connection...

NPR's "This American Life" show did a great hour this week explaining how the whole mess happened in very understandable terms. Highly recommended listening.

[BobSch]

Now there's some discussion that Wall Street may not play ball: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...street.bailout

[cgallery]

NPR's "This American Life" show did a great hour this week explaining how the whole mess happened in very understandable terms. Highly recommended listening.

I second this. If you want an idea of the mechanics behind the current and coming failures, you simply cannot beat this episode of TAL.

This problem goes much deeper than subprime failures. The subprime failures could be the match that ignites the credit-swap holocaust.

Should be available as a podcast tomorrow.

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

[jackellis]

Now there's some discussion that Wall Street may not play ball:

Well. that might not be such a bad outcome to the extent taxpayer money does not need to be used to get things on track. However, if it still means the credit markets are locked up, ordinary folks are still going to suffer, and all because some bank executives aren't willing to forgo their fat paychecks.

In our area, several auto dealerships have already failed because they could not obtain inventory financing on reasonable terms.

A local economist's take on the bailout: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/...nclick_check=1

[sparkeyjames]

The Barons of Wall Street are not hurting at all. They had their golden parachutes. Oh well so they had to sell off one of their properties to bank the bucks in case more s%^& hits the fan. WOOPIE. It's J.Q. Public and the midlevel and lower workers on Wall Street that are going to bear the brunt of this fall out.

I was surprised to find out that the largest asset that Lehman Brothers had left was their data center. Looks like the execs stripped it bare before the bankruptcy.

Since I don't have anything invested in the Wall Street money pit, I sit in fascination of the absolute stupidity that happens when greed pushes out all sanity and reason.