Definitely Not in Recession: Facial Hair

(NEWSER) - During the Great Depression, legend has it a group of Wall Street bankers went to Hollywood to see if it was worth investing in, only to be immediately repulsed by the brazen displays of wealth they saw there. Now that it's the bankers being pilloried for their excesses, writes Neal Gabler in the Boston Globe, it could be argued that the whole economic mess we're in is the result of once-stodgy Wall Street becoming Hollywoodized. More»

Bloomberg unveils $45M program

(NEWSER) - With the Wall Street mess taking a heavy toll on New York City's economy, Mayor Bloomberg is launching a program to retrain laid-off investment bankers and make the city a mecca for entrepreneurs and foreign financial firms. The city plans to spend $45 million in federal and city money to seed new businesses—ideally created by those very same laid-off bankers and traders—and provide office space for them, the New York Times reports. More»

Mayor rolls out plans to hike taxes, cut services and ax 20,000 city jobs

(NEWSER) - All American cities are facing budget shortfalls because of the recession, but Wall Street's meltdown has decimated New York City's tax base, Michael Bloomberg said yesterday in announcing plans to slash 20,000 city jobs, cut services and raise taxes. The aim is to reduce an expected $4 billion deficit, reports the New York Post. More»

Studios scale back films, lose capital

(NEWSER) - When Steven Spielberg is feeling a budget pinch, you know the financial crisis is bad. His hunt for financing on a new studio deal gets tougher with each day of bad news from Wall Street, Time reports. With credit as tough to come by in Hollywood as everywhere else, many studios are “making a conscious decision to slow it down,” one exec says. More»

Matt Taibbi says bankers are still overpaid

(NEWSER) - Matt Taibbi was incredulous when he read a recent New York piece in which Wall Street denizens whined that Dodd-Frank was limiting their bonuses. "I watch what I spend," one banker lamented, "but my girlfriend likes to eat good food," which adds up fast. "Quelle horreur!" Taibbi quips in Rolling Stone , before shredding the argument. Actually, bank compensation is falling because of the European debt crisis. Bankers he knows are saying things like, "If the ECB doesn't come up with a Greek bailout package, I'm going to have to sell my children for dog food." And at some banks (like Goldman Sachs), bonuses are actually up relative to earnings. More»