Marc Ambinder
Posted on 02/20/2009 5:55:40 PM PST by Lorianne
It will probably work too...there is much anger towards Wall Street these days...heck I don’t even like them. The new CEO from Wachovia ( a company and it’s former CEO cost me much dollars as I was a stockholder...worthless now) said he was at a meeting where someone said,”maybe we should just shoot the bankers”, the crowd stood up and applauded. I would be very careful about aligning the GOP with traders right now...more despised then lawyers...and that’s saying something.
No one will ever believe traders are Joe the plumber types...come on.
These guys work on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile...hardly a joe the plumber kind of occupation.
My point was that they are not necessarily upper class Ivy League types. It is true that traders can make lots of money, but floor traders are not the same as investment bankers.
In “The City” (London’s financial district) traders often come from working class backgrounds. These types are referred to as “barrow boys” (from the idea that their fathers may have traded street stall - or apple barrow). The name probably did not reflect real parental career choices, but did reflect that many had a working class background (along with hunger, street-smarts, drive and energy). The Investment bankers are more likely to be cerebral book-smarts type of guys. I imagine that “Wall Street” is much the same.
While they may earn more than the average plumber, I would expect that many traders have attitudes and backgrounds similar to Joe The Plumber. That is, unlike investment bankers, they would tend to identify with ordinary people and not Obambi supporting SWPLs.
I agree the average person will lump the traders with the I-bankers, so the class war stuff will work. However, I still maintain that traders are closer to Joe the plumber than the kind of dorky academics that infest much of the corporate and governmental worlds.
You have to pay really good money to be on the floor so those guys are not poor...you don’t just go down there and trade. I don’t know, my sis was incensed by Rick’s remarks as were a couple of parents of my kids friends...they focused on the loser part. Wall Street banker and traders are not popular with most Americans...I would not align myself with them If I were running the GOP.
I heard a discussion at Sparkles today, that went something like this...”they bail out the rich Wall Street **** can’t use the word Jim would ban me, but don’t want to help any Americans” and “finally Wall Street tells Main Street that they really do think they are losers”...these were guys who immediately apologized to me for their language when they saw I had heard them.
Wall Street is not a couple of greedy CEO’s. They are the companies that provide the jobs and products that we need to survive. If they don’t survive neither will our economy.
Marc Ambinder
Well I am not a Wall Street trader. I make a good, but not huge income.
I look at the “stimulus” and see nothing for me. Even the “tax cuts” look to be refundable credit type that will go to those that do not pay tax. All this expenditure will be paid for. I will likely end up paying.
It is a case of work hard, pay your bills, get screwed. To some degree it has always been this way, that is the nature of a welfare state. I used to be able to shrug this off as an annoyance. But as the bills get higher and the screwing gets harder, I get more angry.
Our problems were not caused by futures traders (futures are standardized products traded through a clearing house unlike most CDO, CDS securities). The traders blowing of steam did not bother me.
I do not know how much of the mortgage bailout will go to “none losers:
- Those who had a mortgage they could afford, but now have lost their job, and ability to pay.
- Had a mortgage they could afford but now have to sell at a large lose for a job move or other necessary relocation (the loss being large enough to prevent said relocation).
If you bought a property you knew you could not afford (even in good times), lied about your income, or are hoping Uncle Sam will save you because your plan for a quick flip failed, then you are a loser.
I understand how some are angered by the “losers” comment but I fear that many looking for help are in the NINJA, get-rich-quick group.
For the cost of the stimulus we could provide major cuts in the income tax. Now there is a bailout I could support.
Most people I know are in foreclosure because of job loss...when they bought their homes, they could afford them. I wish we had a better stimulus because I believe we need one to stop deflationary death spiral, but I fear this one may not do the trick.
I am always interested in the double standard many have...big three has a bad business model, thus we don’t need them...millions of jobs at stake here. Now Wall Street has probably the worst business model I have ever seen in terms of everything...dangerous financial products (derivatives), excessive compensaton not based on performance and leverage amounts that would embarrass a loan shark. Yet, we must ‘save’ them...How? They have bankrupted this country. I don’t see how they can succeed anymore based on their past model...Serious reform is needed...first ban the practice of betting on stocks you don’t own...ie eliminate hedge funds and derivatives. But Wall Street is resistant to correcting their model and can be expected to further tank the economy in their effort to maintain the status quot...so far the money has been poured into a black hole with no bottom in our effort to help these guys who have ethics resembling con men.
Everyone is so upset over a few corporate airplanes, as congress jumps on their own private jets.
These are global companies that need to run their business. They can't be standing in security lines at the airport for hours.
I am just so sick of the false outrage.
GM is a global company too with most profits coming from China...the CEO’s must ride commercial now...these bank CEO’s deserve special treatment?...they deserve handcuffs mostly...criminals. I do blame them they created the derivatives, they took the excessive risk...and we have to pay for their reckless behavior while they walk away with millions.
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