Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 GLOSSIES 
5

Livid Wall Streeters See Themselves as Victims

Share

(Newser) – Main Street doesn’t hold a monopoly on victimhood, Gabriel Sherman writes in New York. From AIG execs and their disappearing bonuses to Wall Street bankers who get dirty looks, the once-privileged feel like they’re shouldering too much blame. “It is difficult to sympathize with these people,” Sherman writes, “but you can understand their shock: Their world has been turned on its head.”

The wealthy financial elite is particularly worried about being taxed into relative poverty. They fight “when you try and take the bone away, even if they didn’t deserve that bone in the first place,” said one insider. An argument Sherman heard “over and over” was “that the high cost of living like a wealthy person in New York necessitates higher salaries. It was loopy logic,” Sherman writes, “but expressed sincerely.”

The New York Stock Exchange.
The New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo)
People walk to work on Wall Street.
People walk to work on Wall Street.   (AP Photo)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

By some Ayn Rand–ian logic, the virtue of efficient markets distributing capital to where it is most needed justifies extreme salaries—these are the wages of the meritocracy. They see themselves as the fighter pilots of capitalism. - Gabriel Sherman

You can’t live in New York and have kids and send them to school on $75,000. And you have the Obama administration suggesting that. He’s being disingenuous. He knows that you can’t live in New York on $75,000. - Goldman veteran

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
5 comments
VIEWING:
 
Sniffer
Apr 20, 09 5:46 PM CDT
This comment has been removed by Newser’s community. You must be logged in to view this comment. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
JonmarkP
Apr 20, 09 10:48 PM CDT
"Poverty is an anomaly to rich people. It is very difficult to make why people who want dinner do not ring the bell." -Walter Bagehot Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
divetrader
Apr 21, 09 1:35 AM CDT
Let wall street fail and bring life back to main street. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
radnip
Apr 22, 09 1:07 PM CDT
ROFL! Victimhood in America is hilarious. I thought victims needs a perpetrator. So who made these people cause the Wall Street flame-out? Let's here who they blame so we can at least understand why they feel like victims. Oh, they blame the people who think that they ought to be paid appropriately for the job they do/did? I thought they themselves think that when they talk about welfare to the poor: That the lazy poor do not merit welfare. So that means these people have only themselves to blame? For not meriting their outrageous salaries and bonuses and stellar reputations? Let's have a "Bonk yourself if your a Wall Streeter" day. ROFL! Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
sache
Apr 23, 09 10:06 AM CDT
I will not attend their pity party.nor shed any tears for the situation they fine themselves in. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

139 Stories

Annoyed by Feds, AIG CEO Threatens to Quit

Benmosche, just 3 months in, is 4th CEO in 18 months

Nov 11, 09 8:43 AM CST
(Newser) - Just 3 months after taking the job, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche is threatening to storm out in a huff. At a directors’ meeting last week the voluble Benmosche, formerly of MetLife, told colleagues he was “done” with trying to operate the 80% taxpayer-owned company under federal supervision, particularly with... More »

MORE ABOUT:
executive compensation • CEO • AIG • Treasury Department • restrictive oversight • Wall Street bailout • Kenneth Feinberg • Robert Benmosche • pay czar • Douglas Steenland

$250K APIECE

Bonuses at Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Goldman Hit $30B

Average payout will be five times median household income in US

Nov 9, 09 4:55 AM CST
(Newser) - Recession? What recession? Some Wall Street firms are not feeling any pain this year as record bonuses at just three of the top firms are likely to hit an eye-popping $30 billion. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, the three biggest banks to be bailed out by the feds,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
executive compensation • Goldman Sachs • Morgan Stanley • bonuses • compensation • Federal government • bailout • JPMorgan Chase • executives • Wall Street bailout • TARP

PAUL KRUGMAN

Dems Will Regret Not Being Bolder on Economy

Voter backlash is about failure to lower unemployment

Nov 6, 09 6:48 AM CST
(Newser) - Paul Krugman doesn't buy the GOP conclusion that voters Tuesday rejected the Obama agenda. The election just showed that American voters are worried about their jobs, he writes, and this time next year, with unemployment still high, Democrats will likely regret not having been bolder on the economy when... More »

MORE ABOUT:
recession • unemployment • US economy • Paul Krugman • economic stimulus package • Obama administration • President Obama • election day November 2009

139 Stories


Business  •  Glossies  •  Politics  •  US 
TwitterFollow @NewserBusiness on Twitter

 
executive compensation • recession • financial services • investment bankers • tax policy • Obama administration • Wall Street bailout • economic downturn

from our news partners