No more man week

I post this link in the spirit of WSO man week having drawn to a close. Most of you have probably seen this, and I've seen it a bunch of times, but it still makes me laugh.

There is a kernel of truth to this though. As everything around us is 'going green', the social value of what we do is questioned, and we are seeing even GS executives being indicted, there is something that is missing from this national conversation:

Fuck you, pay me......KISS MY ASS

Yes, that's right. Pucker up and kiss it. I'm trying to make a living, and the difference between me and a social worker is that I don't need to feel good about every part of my job NOR do I fee the need to justify my existence. There is no fancy language to describe what 'entitles' me to a raise: I earn it. There is no moralizing about how I'm making the world a better [or worse] place. Finance is a key component of a free market system, which is merely one part of a free society, and I see no further justification necessary beyond that. I'm simply working my up the ladder of an industry that handles money.

I could sit here and point out all the hypocrisy in our government, media, relgious, military, law enforcement, education, higher education, cultural and other establishments, but I won't. The point is that while some people fucked up a few years ago, the vast majority of the rest of us are simply functioning in a system where the larger 'environment' of business and culture is set by power beyond our control: CEOs, politicians and media stooges have far more power and are typically far less responsible than the average employee.....and that is all we are.

I have only been floating around the financial world for a few years now, and with literally a handful of exceptions, the vast majority of my coworkers have been smart, hardworking people with bills to pay.....and put out extra effort with the intention of reaping the benefits later. Corruption, mistakes, greed, and plain old bad people exist in every industry, and as someone who is pretty centrist politically I have a reputation of being a 'GOOD GUY'. I earn my paycheck, I do my job, I go home. I get the impression that just about everyone here is in the same camp: it's a job. I do it to get paid. It opens a lot of doors. I chose an industry that will take a huge bit out of my free time and social life so that I can have a better life.

While people see M&A between oil and defence companies as wrong, or jumping on Japan's currency after the quake as heartless, or twisting Greece's arm to reign in spending as callous; I see it all as real people making real world decisions. Politicians make it about ideology or some other nonsense, but financial professionals are making the same types of hard nosed decisions. The only difference is that we are honest about it.