Wall street it ruining America...

"Wall Street -- that amalgam of hedge funds, bankers and the rest -- keeps committing transgressions at a time when most Americans are still raw over the housing bubble, the deep financial crisis that followed and the ensuing bailouts. There are so many, it's hard to keep up -- and to contain the outrage."

http://money.msn.com/investing/wall-street-is-ruining-america-mirhaydari.aspx

Makes me want to invest in more precious metals...lead...brass...

The Economist had an interesting article about the crazy risk/reward system in banking that leads to incredible blunders. A couple highlights.

There are lots of people wanting few jobs so you think that would encourage wages to fall, but there is the idea that you have to pay for good people.

Then, once you get in, you are on a short leash, but if you are smart or lucky and make some good picks, they give you more power and the ability to take on more risk. So just like the Peter Principle, they only tend to find out you don't know what you are doing after an incredible, costly blunder.

They reward risk taking with huge bonuses, encouraging risky behavior. Penalize the people that make stupid errors? Not likely, you usually get rewarded with a a nice severance package after they let you go.

Win-win if you get hired in the industry.

Boy am I in the wrong business! tongue:

Is this a OWS 99%-ers commercial? BTW I think Obama re-named them the 98%-ers anyway.

Whatever happened to OWS anyway, are they on summer vacation or something, or did they go bankrupt?

There has always been bad guys on Wall St. since the 1920's pushing penny stocks and pumping and dumping, and collecting big commissions. The difference today is the regulators are clueless and asleep, and the leverage is much higher with derivatives, swaps and futures. And millisecond computer trades. I've been in almost 100% cash for a long time.

And Bernenke is trying to make sure you lose your ass even if you are holding cash too.