Americans think we're dirty rotten scoundrels.

CNN reports the results of a recent poll of 1000 Americans, the majority feel that all of Wall Street is dirty, not just Madoff. We’re not talking a bit over half, we’re talking 74% of those questioned.

59% feel the government should tighten the reigns on their regulations on the market and financial institutions.

And, perhaps the most telling of all the stats being reported, if given $1000 with which they could do anything they please, more people would stuff the cash under their mattress than invest it in stocks or bonds.

So glad I’m in the financial industry right now.

19 Comments
 

People are just over reacting due to the fact that their paltry 401k's have taken a hit this year. Give it time for the next bear market to emerge and I'd be willing to bet their opinions change.

 
bearing
PBatemanPeople are just over reacting due to the fact that their paltry 401k's have taken a hit this year.

....... and you wonder why people hate Wall Street so much.

I was just trying to point out the fact that people make opinions based upon emotions and their portfolio's being largely down this year might have something to do with those statistics. Like I said before, if we were in the middle of a bull market (I meant to say bull, not bear) and their portfolios were doing well, I'd be willing to bet those statistics wouldn't be that way.

 
Juwanna Mann
PBatemanPeople are just over reacting due to the fact that their paltry 401k's have taken a hit this year. Give it time for the next bear market to emerge and I'd be willing to bet their opinions change.

Yeah, because in a bear market, their 401k plans would be KILLING IT, right?

I obviously meant bull. I corrected myself in an above post.

 

The day I worry about what Johnny Lunchbucket thinks, is the day I start putting my money in CD's.

Actually, check that. That's the day my family starts blowing my dough like it was free because they just had me committed.

The average American couldn't find their own ass with both hands and a fucking search party. Wanna know when Joe Six-Pack was bragging about his portfolio? Back in 2001 right before the crash. The average American doesn't know dick.

 
Edmundo BravermanThe day I worry about what Johnny Lunchbucket thinks, is the day I start putting my money in CD's.

Actually, check that. That's the day my family starts blowing my dough like it was free because they just had me committed.

The average American couldn't find their own ass with both hands and a fucking search party. Wanna know when Joe Six-Pack was bragging about his portfolio? Back in 2001 right before the crash. The average American doesn't know dick.

My sentiments exactly. The average American is too quick to point their finger at Wall Street when they knew there was risk involved in the process.

 

Give them a mortgage and your an asshole.... Don't give them a mortgage your an asshole... Won't finance his ford 150 you're an asshole... Do financed it and he goes broke, you're an asshole... Either way, America has always viewed us as big swinging dick assholes... Did we need a survey in a recession tell us what was already known?

Reporters, the most worthless species of human out there... Half this nightmare is due to them hanging around issues like vultures till the thing croaks and they get a story... ASSHOLES!

 
affluenzaAmericans think we're dirty rotten scoundrels

wait wait wait..so you mean we're not?

holy shit..so my MDs have always been nice guys? my world has just been turned upside down.

We're about to enter a Great Depression. Don't you want a president who's already dressed for it?

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

I've read something akin to this before. The average American despises rich Wall Streeters and their money because they don't believe that Wall Streeters deserve their hefty bonuses. This primarily because the average Joe doesn't know jack shit about complex financial instruments and what people in finance do. On the other hand, guys like the Google guys are seen to deserve their money because they built it from the ground up and because people understand what they do. And because what the Google guys made is something the average American uses everyday and understands. We're just paper shufflers who shouldn't get paid so much.

 
 
IBnutzand most of the google guys just happened to be in the right time at the right place (like the broadcast.com guys like mark cuban)... i'm sure some of those jerks couldn't land a 1st round at a BB. Good thing they got lucky because they wouldn't have made it any other way. (and yes i'm jealous of their fat wad of cash)

Weren't the Google guys Phd students at Stanford and the Facebook guy was a Harvard student? I'm pretty sure these guys had the aptitude to succeed in just about anything they put their minds to including getting into IB or trading if they felt it was worth their effort.

 
Best Response
beta1607
IBnutzand most of the google guys just happened to be in the right time at the right place (like the broadcast.com guys like mark cuban)... i'm sure some of those jerks couldn't land a 1st round at a BB. Good thing they got lucky because they wouldn't have made it any other way. (and yes i'm jealous of their fat wad of cash)

Weren't the Google guys Phd students at Stanford and the Facebook guy was a Harvard student? I'm pretty sure these guys had the aptitude to succeed in just about anything they put their minds to including getting into IB or trading if they felt it was worth their effort.

The facebook guy did 1 year at Harvard I think and while that is commendable, the guy is still the worlds biggest douche-bag.

 

There is an identity issue; we are the average Americans weather we work on wall street or not , and don't tell us the average Americans don't understand what Wall Street has been doing...

It's very simple, people who got very creative to design these toxic financial engineering instruments, didn't have work ethics and this is first quality that any worker should posses.

It's ok to get fat bonuses but when your banks are being nationalized, getting taxpayer money, and on the brink of bankruptcy, I don't think workers should be rewarded with fat bonuses.

You also have to understand if Joe six pack doesn't have a job and/or doesn't spend their money on the economy , the economy will not get better.

The traditional investment bank model is already dead and I am not sure if it's going to come back again.

 

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