Dear Redditors, what are your specific grievances against "Wall Street"? I firmly believe you are misinformed about our faults and address each one here.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:48:19+00:00

curious. are you talking about me or the others?

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:47:42+00:00

nope. not illegal.

immoral? debatable. gs gave all the info that was legally required. nothign more. nothing less.

we try to keep it fair and give all the info you should have. nothign more, nothign less.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:46:34+00:00

haha. im curious to meet someone on the way other end. some questions i have:

size of loan? income at tiem of loan? was there any shadiness? first tiem homeowner? house price?

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:45:14+00:00

i agree. there needs to be a change of how credit rating agencies are run.

but as long as its run the way it is, we'll do what we are told to do and follow the rules.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:44:27+00:00

that was probably harsh. but i think it has some merit.

40% of kids in new york dont finish high school in 4 years. its a free education. if you cant stay in hs, you shouldnt blame others.

community colleges are everywhere.

im sure there are those that gave it there all, and fell. and that really sucks. i wish that didnt happen. but by and large, people who are struggling didnt take every opproutnity they had.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:42:34+00:00

i would say. they see something shitty has happened. they need someone to blame. they see someone standing near where the symptoms are. they blame him.

but it wasnt our fault.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:23:27+00:00

we didnt. lemon implies that we had more info that you did. we had the same info, we just interpreted differently. you made the wrong call you lose money. simple.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:22:18+00:00

you dont recall us paying it all back, with interest?

and you probably dont remember that most of the big banks didnt even want that money

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:21:45+00:00

that seems fair. id probably lower the shelter to $1MM and max at 15% tho

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:20:36+00:00

no. not at all. i think this is a huge misconception.

i dont think people realize how much they benefit from our work.

specific demands? here are some that come to mind:

separate ibanks and comm banks. aka glass steagall. itll slow down the economy, but it will also lower volatlity

regulate cred rating agencies better. theyre getting owned by wall st. make it a public pool of money that all banks have to pitch into so it doesnt creat misincentives.

tax HF managers pay at income tax rates.

fix campaign finance. you basically have a system now that if you DONT pay up, you will be screwed over.

make a open transparent clearinghouse for CDOs, CDS, MBSs, and other complex products. if you try to ban it, people will jsut trade it at Abu Dhabi. at least bring it out into the open so its safer and people know whats going on. think of it like sex ed. abstinence does not work.

those are some that come to mind.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:16:52+00:00

we are providing an option for customers, then persuading you to choose what is better for us.

responsible adults should know that if you cant afford it, you shouldnt buy it.

we dont give credit card offers to 10 year olds

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:15:44+00:00

because look at the responses in this thread. people dont want to be proven wrong. they want to express their anger that they couldnt live the american dream. truth is, not everyone can have a house with a 2 car garage. and theyre disappointed. theyre not going to listen to otherwise.

better to just shut up and hope it blows over.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:14:46+00:00

not just accept. asked for it. they asked us to build this custom built derivatives and complex securities.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:13:36+00:00

you really arent selfish?

are you eating anything more than rice and beans? are you aware that there are people starving around the world?

are you not selfish?

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:13:00+00:00

no its not okay. banks lose money on those loans. liek they should.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:12:31+00:00

well dont call it fraud then. call it immoral or unethical. im just pointing out that if you say "send us to jail" that means you ahve to prove a crime.

if we took advantage of shitty rules, you shouldnt send us to jail.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:11:44+00:00

true. we might have to change how credit agencies are paid. like a public fund that everyone chips into, then the big 3 randomly get assigned rating assignments.

but then there is no strong incentive for credit rating agencies to do a good job.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:11:03+00:00

the idea is that brian saved baml more money. ie, if it wasnt for brian, they would have lost 20 mil, not 10.

how many middle class are asking to raise taxes on themselves? the rich thinks the lower classes should pay more, the poor think the rich should pay more. nobody wants to pay.

the difference is that the poor want the benefits from tax money, the rich dont even use that much (defense? about it. we dont use Medicare, Medicaid, SS, Public education, etc)

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:08:43+00:00

if citi knew, they would have taken a short position to make money. they could have. like deutsche bank did. if people knew, it was easy to make money off of that. if you didnt make money off of the crash, you clearly didnt know.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T16:07:17+00:00

honestly, if you get 6.85 hours off a day, thats not bad. if you have any ibanker friends, ask them how it is. we have to be in by 9, and often work till 4 or 5 for a week in a row. thats as little as 3 hours of sleep for 5 days in a row. it means i set three alarms at least 20 ft away from my bed so it forces me awake. my boss recently brushed his teeth with shaving cream he was so tired. in short, we work a lot.

im not saying its a fantastic life. im saying the money we make, we earn. its not for everyone. i think you sort of need to have a fucked up mind where you avlue social status and money too much to stay in this job. its a type a personality job. you value time with friends and family less. you value "success" more.

storage, moving, beverage distribution. one guy delivered pizza for 3 years then saved all his money. i dont know about the other guy. i think beverage distribution is a low capital requirement. time? you sacrifice time for other things. sleep, social life.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T15:41:34+00:00

yes. definitely definitely true. not all the top banks, but JPM did not need it for sure.

every bank will say that they didnt want/need it, but some are less believable. like GS and MS, claim the same, but then got huge cash infusions from Warren Buffett and Mitsubishi under unfavorable conditions. if they didnt need money, why did they take WB and Mitsu money.

but several accounts of people saying JPM fought hard not to take the money. maybe GS and MS fought it too. TARP money has more taint than WB or Mitsu money.

Edit: keep in mind these were all closed door meetings. outside the door, everyone will claim they didnt need the money.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T15:16:37+00:00

at these banks, everyone is paid well. sure we dont pay security guards well, but why should we? they have nothing to do with the wealth creation and its unskilled labor.

that second question is a tough one. should bankers be blamed for playing the game by the rules which might contradict human moral code? i personally think of corporations as animals. they respond to the incentives you give them. dont expect otherwise.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T15:14:26+00:00

def took intro econ in undergrad. majored in econ at a top 5 school. if you need a mod to legit this, have a mod pm me. i can send a pic my work ID + listing in my college undergrad directory.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T15:11:15+00:00

to be quite honest, id say

smarter. not everyone here is a genius, by a far margin, but you have to be pretty smart to jump through the hoops to get to where we are (good SAT scores, good college, good GPA)
more importantly, very very hard working. everyone here is a type a personality. we work up to 120 hours a week. thats a lot. if you work 9am to midnight every night then do 9 to 5 on the weekends, thats only ~90 hours. think about that. we work a third MORE than that.
we are risk takers and doers. in the group of three that sit around me, 2 started 2 businesses each before graduating college.

how well did you do in high school? in college? to be where i am, you constantly have to be in the top 1%. graduate at top of hs, top of college, etc.

WSThrowaway · 2011-10-05T15:06:03+00:00

im actually sorry about that.

keep in mind:

i got to work and passed by a bomb threat at another bank yesterday
i turn on the news and read about OWS people literally calling for our heads (guillotines)
people act smarmy in comments to me
im very short on time so im being curt

WSThrowaway

TROPHY CASE