Pain & Pleasure

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR2008052803387.html?hpid=topnews

I love what is happening to Bear Stearns. These guys really deserve what happened to them. If there is anyone here who does not know it, Bear Stearns was arguably the most hated firm on the Street. They treated everyone - from employees to customers - badly. The idea that if you are poor, smart and driven, Bear Stearns is the place for you was entirely a myth that Ace Greenberg liked to propagate. You would need to understand what all the top management at Bear Stearns have in common to know why the PSD myth is so moronically untrue.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/business/30bear.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

“I have no anger, only regret,” Mr. Cayne said, as he departed from the script of his prepared remarks. “Fourteen thousand families were affected. I personally apologize. I feel an enormous amount of pain and management feels an enormous amount of pain.”

The audience of Bear employees, directors and investors, many of whom Mr. Cayne has known for years and who lost large parts of their savings and fortunes, received his remarks in dead silence.

“That which does not kill you makes you stronger,” he added. “And at this point we are all like Hercules.”

Again, his words were met with silence.

“JPMorgan is a great organization,” he concluded. “There are better days ahead.”

And then the meeting, which lasted no more than 10 minutes, was over and Bear’s employees headed quietly off to work.
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Like I said, I love this. But the truth of the matter is that they are blaming the wrong person for what happened at Bear. And all these wankers are not taking responsibility for the role they played in the whole sorry business. It is truly amazing that some people can be adulated even as the house of cards they built comes tumbling down around them.
 
These institutions become very overstaffed and difficult times force a return to reality. Suddenly there is a change to conserving every cent of revenue and only spending wisely. Staff have no excuse for not knowing how bloated staffing has become in the organizations where they work. They should know very well that only good times can sustain such excess. When they are told to go they act is if they are victims.

When better times return and the bloating starts up again presumably they can be sucked back in to a lot of these non-jobs as they re-appear once more.
:)
 
Anyone who did not see this coming definitely deserved to get canned on the grounds that they are simply too dumb to do the job. But we have not seen the real blood letting yet. For the time being it is just the guys in mortgages, structured finance, high yield and the like plus the schmuck analysts and associates that are getting pink slips. In another 3-4 more months, before year end bonuses are announced, you will hear the grinding of teeth and pulling of hair as VPs and above across the board are sent packing. When analysts and 1-2 year associates are let go, it does not actually count as a layoff; that is more a matter of people not making the grade. :cool:

What are all these people going to do to pay for their lattes in Manhattan? :D
 
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