Posted on 12/05/2008 2:59:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK (AFP) The hedge fund dealers partied at a New York nightclub like there was no tomorrow -- which for some was probably true.
Swilling martinis and vodkas, they filled Manhattan's white, tent-themed Nikki Beach to bursting. Waiters, trays of tapas held high in the air, became stranded, wedged into crowds swaying to music under pink lights.
About 650 guests attended the event late Wednesday, a third more than organizers expected.
Yet with hedge funds in freefall, this was more funeral wake than celebration.
"The industry is down 20 percent. It's by far the worst environment we've ever seen and we'll see a lot of funds going out of business," said Evan Rapoport, co-founder of HedgeCo Networks, which services hedge funds and organized the party.
The evening was billed as a networking session. Sometimes that meant angling for a particularly special deal.
"A lot of people are looking for a job," said Nicole Alexander from Ovation Group, a corporate travel company.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Really? How much are they selling for in your "game" these days?
Human nature is what it is. Some folks view exploiting that nature as nothing more than a "game".
The selfish, corrupt, and immoral attitude presently observable on Wall Street is symptomatic of society's moral decline; and the results of the disease are predictable. Just ask the Greeks, whose moral implosion was described by the Apostle Paul:
Rom 1:28-32
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Again, I’m not involved in Wall Street. However, I do understand it.
There has always been greed on Wall Street. What you describe and say you hate is nothing new. If anything, it’s more of a fairly played game than it was a hundred years ago. Google Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, Black Friday 1869. Google Wall Street Bucket shops. Google the Panic of 1819.
Other dates of panics were: 1929, 1987, 1999, etc, etc. etc.
Google Tulipmania of the 1630. Google The South Sea Island Bubble of the 1700s.
There’s more, let me know if you want the references.
i asked them what the occassion was. the one guy who's in fashion told me he had just gotten laid off earlier that day. the other guy who's in finance had gotten laid off the day before.
they laughed because they had to. i left a little while later as they were sitting down to another pitcher of bud light.
the ripple effect, booze sales go up.. been there, done that,, Bud Light? Make mine a Heiny. ;-)
Correct."Hey, Moses has been up there on that mountain a awful long time; he and his God must be dead. So hey, let's throw this gold into the fire and worship what comes out".Sound familiar?Same ol' same ol'.
Wall Street, finance, etc. are what they are. I would strongly suggest you stay out of these fields.
What I don’t get is how you associate it with worshiping money. Is it because some of the people on wall st seem to have a lot of it?
Really, you seem confused on this point. The logic, I think, goes something like this: Gee, they must really love money, because they sure have a lot of it. The more they have, the more they must love it.
This is patently wrong in most cases. And again, I’m not apologizing for anything, just explaining. The truth is, most of them love the process, the game, the way in which the work forces them to think in highly complex terms. Money is just how they keep score.
In my experience, the folks who really value money tend to stay away from wall street because of the risk factor.
There is no “religion of greed.” People do their jobs and try to get paid as much as they can for their jobs. That’s true for the janitor as much as the CEO.
Also, who, exactly is “they.” Is “they” the real estate agent who sold the house? The people who bought more house than they could afford? The mortgage broker who put through the paperwork? The investment banker who bundled all those mortgages into securities? The bank vice president who bought the securities or loaned money against them? The companies, like AIG, who insured the securities with fancy-pants names like credit default swap? The state pension fund managers who bought the securities?
Who do you imagine “they” are?
Do you honestly believe there are people out there who believe in money, profit etc in a religious sense?
Even Hetty Green, one of Wall Street’s greatest kooks, didn’t take it that far.
>>Do you honestly believe there are people out
>>there who believe in money, profit etc in a
>>religious sense?
Oh on the contrary, I think the creators of the Golden Calf exemplify atheism and manipulation via religious idolatry, smoke, and mirrors, far more than they exemplify persons of faith.
Mistah Kurtz, He Dead.
So, they’re religious, but not religious....oh kay then.
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
--Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ozymandias
By all indications, the pyramids were built as part of a religious belief system. The Pharaohs believed they would help them get to the other side or something. The pyramids were also largely built with slave labor — and to the best of anyone’s knowledge didn’t require a lot of motivational pep talks.
Correct.The Snake and Sun on top of the Bull are an Egyptian contribution to Baal worship.And what is Baal?BAALBA'AL (ba'al; Heb. ba`al, "lord, master, possessor").It's a system of control or government via forced worship.In modern terms, when a system becomes the object of mandatory, collective, self-worship it's called fascism - or corporatism.
The construction of the pyramids and other monuments was a physical manifestation of the theocratic ideal.The Pharaohs held themselves up to be gods to the sheeple; but whether or not the Pharaohs believed in their own divinity is speculation.Mel Gibson's depiction of a similar religious hierarchical facade in his work "Apocalypto" leads me to believe they knew they were faking. For that, and other reasons, I believe the Pharaohs knew they were no more gods than Gibson's priests were making the sun go dark. In both cases, the frauds utilized occult metrics to maintain their power.--DurasellEnough to have your great-great-great-great grand kids singing your praises?I suspect that's essentially what motivated the Pharaohs too. Human nature hasn't changed much.But Mistah Kurtz, he still dead.
The entire Egyptian hierarchy, from slave to god-emperor, was built upon a religious facade; with the folks on top of the figurative pyramid masquerading as deity.Slavery in that environment was entirely justified by the moral framework of the religious facade; and it was also a significant reason for the American founder's separation between state and church.
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