Our very own Den of Thieves
Den of Thieves is required reading from Wall Street Lit 101.
Over the years, the term has become synonymous with the greed and villainy Wall Street either inspires in or extracts from people (depending on your perspective).
A new den of thieves has emerged on the American landscape, however. It is a den of the vilest scum and purest filth, for it does not acknowledge or recognize its own malice...choosing instead to bleed dry those it purports to protect.
America's Sodom, the heart of Pentapolis. Or as we...the financiers of our own suffering call it, Washington D.C.
Coming as no shock to anyone understanding the true nature of government, our nation's capital posted the highest median salary in the U.S. for 2009 . How convenient that during a year when 51/52 of the largest metro area suffered a drop in income, Washington D.C. did not not skip a beat.
Much love to San Antonio, btw.
To quote Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's analytics:
This goes to how broad-based the downturn was. During other recessions, a region or two avoided the recession. This time, none did."
Moody's? You mean the TARP rubber stamp posse? The guys who AAA-ed Bear, Lehman and WaMu? Those guys? Arguably, the BIGGEST CULPRITS in the meltdown that haven't had to answer a single question about it?
That's who's word I'm supposed to take?
Flashback to 2002 for a second. Read this critique of the Enron fiasco and how Wall Street played its part. Better yet, go straight to the second page and read about the "lazy Susan"/"round-tripper". Names change, game stays the same and those most responsible are not even mentioned.
In order for an institutionalized robbery to occur, there must be blessings from up on high. As a guy who's had the opportunity to break bread with Wall Street men from five different decades, I can't tell you they haven't changed one bit.
It is the high priests of big government rhetoric who have gone drunk of the opiates they prescribe for the masses. It is they who are to blame, and it is they who reap the rewards.
Yes, this little salary statistic does matter. At a time, when our government has put the Biblical fear of God into any business who may dare to try to expand and grow its domestic operations, it really does matter.
At a time when many Americans can't find jobs, but the U.S. Treasury Department can add 30,000 tax-collectors to its team of thieves, it really does matter.
Welcome to the new den of thieves...
For those of you hard pressed to find a job on Wall Street you may want to re-consider your options and thank your lucky stars you didn't get that 2nd round interview. The symbiosis of regulators and financiers has reached a zenith and will hold steady. Why not join the party and bleed the stuck pig dry?
Washington, D.C. There my friends lies not a city, but along with adult entertainment and organized crime a recession-proof industry. For the rest of you, enjoy your salaries, the den of thieves needs your tax support to get them through another difficult year of
0 overtime and 30 days paid vacation.
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the point of these opuses (opi? opusi?)? I don't just mean from you, but Braverman, and (scratch my eyes out) Jorge. Are you guys writing a book?
Nothing wrong with it, I just don't understand.
Well I, for one, typically make it a policy of mine to try and join any organization that self describes as a den of thieves. Please sign me up for a newsletter. I expect my membership badge and decoder whistle mailed by post within a fortnight.
And a very good day to you sir.
the illustrious monkeysama
Noticed your link to Den Of Thieves directs you to the Barnes & Noble website - celebratory gesture towards Len Riggio?
@Cartwright
Can't speak for anyone else. I just see certain things happening that do not go hand-in-hand with free markets from a reward/incentive perspective. The success of D.C. itself (as essentially a living breathing manifestation of big government providing a "better, more stable" existence for citizenry) can directly be linked to diseconomies of scale in industry. This specifically applies to Wall Street, where the price of effort + cost of success > actual gains in both monetary and quality of life terms. I think you know where it goes from there...
@CapToed
You give me too much credit. I like the B&N page layout better than Amazon's. That's the extent of it. "Pentapolis" was actually the only thing in this text I wanted people to read into a bit more.
I'd be interested what they defined as Washington DC, the metro area or only the district itself? I guess neither would surprise me but there is a lot more than just government workers in that area. A ton of defense companies, law firms, all the major lobbies and industry organizations (we can’t really knock these as we pay them to influence peddle). None the less I’m a little suspicious of this data, though I would expect DC to fair a lot better than say NYC.
People in government don’t really cash in until they are ridiculously important (elected official) or retired/taking a break from public service to cash in on their connections. Rahm Emmanuel for example was an aspiring ballerina in college and worked various political staff jobs after wards, met enough people and was an MD at a boutique in Chicago and banked a few million bucks. Politics is a business masquerading as selfless service, just like finance is a business masquerading as the great wheel that turns to make the world an optimally efficient place. At the higher levels at least, they really aren't all that different.
I know it’s hard to come up with interesting things to write about, but the libertarian theme is getting a bit stale. If you hate government and feel it robbed you of the models and bottles that you worked so hard for but never materialized. The last 15 years were an anomaly, we’ll all be grinding for our money from now on and paying a lot of it to the big bad government. Buck up, it’s not so bad but if you’re still raw about it you can always join Glenn Beck and his high school education at a rally.
@Aggravate
I think the larger point here is that you cannot fundamentaly change something and expect it to continue working. Microsoft would go out of business if it made cars. America will go out of business if the gov't continues to grow and we will become a giant redistributive system. Think of a small group health insurance plan. What happens when the premium becomes expensive? The healthier people flee to individual coverage and the plan collapses.
If you are going to argue that we are suffering from a "gov't-industrial" complex where the gov't has become captured by industry. That is one thing. If you are just suggesting we all just take it up the ass then look in the mirror. I, for one, will not spend 1/2 of my weekly hours feeding the gov't purse.
So I know it may be a little hard to pay attention when you can't see past your own monitor, but do try.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/opinion/29friedman.html?_r=1&hp Friedman has some thoughts on this which may be interesting.
Midas... Just a quick side question... Is there a difference between Den of Thieves and Predator's Ball? I've read the latter, so I was wondering if Den of Thieves is different and worth reading.
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