The recent state dinner hosted by the White House was nothing short of lavish. Lobster, 400 dollar wine, etc. I understand the need to appear strong and stable in the eyes of the world but come on, really? 400 bucks a bottle. I'm sure the President and the White House get some sort of discount, to be sure, but in light of all the outrage over Wall Street excess, shouldn't the President (the face of our nation) take a certain amount of responsibility show solidarity with the "Main Street, regular people" these same people so often publicly sob for?
Is this not, at least outwardly, a double standard? You tell Wall Street to limit bonuses and get pretend angry for the cameras when a hedge fund manager makes a billion dollars but then you turn around and have an excessively expensive party for foreign nationals that, at the very least, parallels any Wall Street Christmas gala you can think of.
So I put it to you. In light of our economic situation, what do you monkeys think the President's role in reducing spending should be as far as 'unnecessary' expenditures like the recent state dinner?
But, but... if we dont have lavish dinners nobody is going to want to come here and hang out with us...
Yes, I AM implying we buy all of our friends.
There is no double standard. I am sure Blankfein has lobster many more times a week than the President.
Wall street folk need to stop looking for others to tell people to scream at, face it Wall Street is the most excess and lavish industry out there and has been for the last 30 years.
...so what? Blankfein isn't telling the rich to shove it and pay more in taxes. He is spending the tax money that he is forcing others to give up. Blankfein isn't telling Americans that they should cut back at home. Blankfein is making money and spending it as he wants, that is the benefit of being a private sector individual, he wasn't elected by anyone other than the shareholders (theoretically) and as long as he maximizes shareholder value I don't care if he builds a house out of diamonds as long as its with his money and not Goldman's. Obama is elected by the taxpayers (well a lot of his supporters don't pay taxes) and is spending the taxpayer's money, governing poorly, minimizing taxpayer value, and is asking for more $$$. That is disgusting. It is like a CEO getting a bigger bonus on a down year than a profitable one.
I have to completely agree with you...
You didn't just say that, did you?
Dude, you cannot be serious. Obama wanted to raise the taxes of top earners by something like 3%, and cut everyone elses taxes. He is not the commi-socialist that the republicans and fox news portray him as by any stretch of the imagination. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out, only a bit of common sense.
And you do realize that the US takes in well over two trillion dollars each year in tax revenue. That means theoretically it takes maybe a minute or two for the US government to collect the money to cover the state dinner. It is very hypocritical for wall streeters to complain about lavish dinners when bonuses are close to 2007 levels when the unemployment rate nationally is still around 10%.
you must be joking? Maybe the most respected excessive and lavish industry next to the doctor and lawyer crowd.....
What about professional athletes, Hollywood, the music industry.
I dont see many traders singing songs about "sippin clicquot, and rockin yellow diamonds...."
What about congressmen and senators being exempt from insider trading regulations? That might not have anything to do with excess, but its definitely fucked up beyond belief. I'd trust my grandma with a partner from goldman any day of the week before any high powered politician.
Would you rather the Obamas treat the Chinese family to fresh bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and cheap malt liquor?
no offense...no offense...
I'd have little problem with it if we had a President that did not bash "lavish" lifestyles and the "rich" pretty consistently. His wife wears couture yet everyone else is "greedy" if they like keeping their money? As the person above said, plenty of Wall Street-ers eat lobster regularly, I'm sure, but they tend to not be the ones telling everyone else to cut back.
Anais is spot on, it's perhaps the greatest example of double standards demonstrated by a politician in recent memory (for me at least)
I thought this was going to be a Jersey Shore thread
These are some of the most powerful people in the world holding a ceremony to honor - or put on a show to honor - common ties and to build relationships. These ceremonies are rare and in thier nature special events.
The thing about Wall Street backlash isn't so much that people begrudge Dimon's and Blankfein's pay, high as they may be. People begrudge the pay of 35 yr old traders who pull in 400k while adding little value to society (and yes, I do understand market making).
The question is this: should the 35 yr old mortgage trader be drinking the same bottle of wine as the two most powerful ppl in the world drink on a special day?
A big difference between wall street and mr. president is that wall street parties are usually funded by the outrageously large salaries of those throwing the party. I don't think mr. President spent a dollar of his $400,000 a year salary, or even a dollar of his $50,000 annual expense account, nevermind I doubt he would have been able to afford the party with the $19,000 annual entertainment allowance he receives.
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Drop in the bucket. This is exactly the same as charging your $30 cab ride to the client or reprinting 10 pitchbooks after numbering is found to be off. Excessive on its own, but certainly permissible given context.
well if michelle is all gung ho for healthy eating and shoving her campaign in everyone's face, how come they weren't serving salad, lean protein and unsweetened tea at that dinner?
Writing this on my phone so forgive me if it's not up to the usual standards.
The whole point of this wasn't to say that a state dinner is somehow equal to a 4 hour, 10,000 dollar lunch. I was merely trying to encourage debate. Certainly wasn't 'looking for others to tell people to scream at' just making an observation.
Good god. Some of you guys are so brain washed and one sided it's sad.
This is the President of the United States of America holding an official State Dinner with the President of China.
Frankly, I'd be embarrassed as an American if we couldn't roll out the red carpet and through a lavish dinner. It's a statement of our might as a nation. It's diplomacy. It's an external event where we are hosting another world power. We damn better be able to afford lobster and $400 dollar bottles of wine and our First Lady better be able to where some expensive high fashion dress. We are god damn America.
Now, if this was normal or an internal even with congressman and senators or whatever you want to call it fine. I'd give you some leeway as they should be showing some restraint. But again, this is two of the most powerful people in the world having an official dinner where we are the hosts. See the big picture and stop taking every opportunity to cry poor us. Last time I check we still have it pretty damn good.
sigh...what a hypocrisy of a democracy. Now you see how to rest of the world looks at us and shakes their head when the U.S. can push itself onto other countries but other countries cant do the same
anyhow, did someone say lobster? :)
I think the US can afford it. Our population is aging slower than China's, we don't have an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen that would limit our ability to feed our people, we have our debt denominated in our currency and we aren't relying on keeping 10% GDP growth with low inflation to keep our populace from rioting in the street.
Honestly a $400 bottle of wine seems cheap for a state dinner.
I love sparking debate that leads to people saying silly thngs
this kind of takes the cake. i've been a poster for the past 4 years on ibo/wso.
too much stuff like this. outrageous claims to "encourage debate" and incite readership. i don't see as many finance professionals on this site anymore either. more often it's people who failed to land ib and are unemployed, random mfin students without ib experience, etc giving ib advice (often dangerous, remember one post telling others to take a one-way ticket to asia to take an unpaid internship). disappointed.
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Guts. I'm sorry if my post somehow.offended you but to say this is the most ridiculous post on 4 years.is absurd. This is a fucking internet forum and if I want to post something out of boredom than I'm more than willing to do so. Take a step back and fucking chill. There are plenty of finance professionals here. Get over yourself.
Who cares happy? We bought that $400 wine with China's money lol. But seriously, there are two sides to this. If Obama lived a spartan lifestyle ala Jimmy Carter, he would not be a hypocrite. But, don't think for a second I think Jimmy Carter was a good president. The American President SHOULD be throwing lavish parties for heads of state. I see nothing wrong with the dinner. The problem lies not with Obama's personal actions, but his public policies and rhetoric.
I have to be fair though--in my heart, I think that Obama does what he does because he cares about the lower classes and wants them to have a step up in life. I think he goes about it in the wrong way, and his policies are heavily flawed, but I don't think his motivations stem from a hatred for the rich; rather I think it is more a passion to help lower classes improve their life.
guts, it is what it is. If you don't like the site anymore stop visiting it. I agree more professional finance bloggers would be nice, but the fact is the real bankers are too busy to post a lot on here.
Isn't China inevitably picking up the tab for the dinner anyways? I thought Obama paid for the dinner in treasury IOUs
It's a fucking STATE DINNER. This isn't just a dinner on a Tuesday. God damn.
Mother fucking George W. Bush spent $40 MILLION on his 2004 inauguration party IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING IRAQ WAR! This shit right here isn't even a drop in the bucket.
Gotta give Obama a pass on this. Its a State dinner for the Chinese Prez, it should haev the best of everything.
I complain about a lot Obama does. But this gets the pass. I'd complain if they bought Hu some taco bell though. State dinner should be pretty baller.
Yea, so in hindsight...this might be one of the dumbest things I have ever written (which is saying a lot). I apologize to everyone that read it. A state dinner is no place to skimp on expenditures.
Blankfein might be a "private individual", but regarding GS as an innocent private company is somewhat misleading. GS is a corporation, and US is run by corporations. And it's state dinner anyway.
Anything that hides Obamas clownness is good. Bust out the vino.
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