City - Friday, October 31, 2008 11:24 - 9 Comments
Christians Pray to the Wall Street Bull in Masses
When saving wisely and pruning expenses just won’t cut it, why not pray to Jesus? In fact, why not pray to Jesus in the form of a golden statue? (This one, mind you.)
That’s what some Christians on Wall Street are doing. And hey, when you don’t have a job anymore, you have tons of free time for things like praying and prostitution and cocaine.
American economy? Plummeting. American values? Right where we left ‘em.
Photo courtesy of Wonkette
City - Friday, October 10, 2008 12:38 - 6 Comments
Wall Street Bull the Victim of (Hilarious) Vandalism
Gothamist (via Buzzfeed) reported that Wall Street’s statue of a bull is in desperate need of relief. An anonymous vandal spray-painted the Wall Street’s bull’s balls blue (say that three times fast), and a few hours later, it had been washed down and (in my imagination) massaged back to its original state. I would have loved – LOVED – to have watched that clean-up process that, in my fantasies, was done by two macho Staten Island cops, each taking one congested testicle. When will the Dow stop crumbling in its “historic slide” and the US will no longer have to fear a second Depression? Maybe when we admit that we’re already in it. Oh but… good work, nameless soldier of political truth. Balls are funny!
Photo from Gothamist
National, Submitted Opinion - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:12 - 2 Comments
The Federal Reserve and You
The Following opinion piece was submitted to the NYU Local Submitted Opinion section. Anyone with an NYU email address and a full name can post to this section.
This is the second part of my opinion piece on the current economic crisis. If you haven’t already read the first introductory piece, you can find it here.
The lending practices of Wall Street have clearly been detrimental to our economy but in relation to those of our own government, some would argue that Wall Street was but a pin prick that popped the bubble; the U.S. Government was the one blowing hot air into the system. The same type of lending practices that led to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown are also typical of our government’s relationship with lenders around the world.
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National - Monday, September 22, 2008 7:19 - 0 Comments
The White House’s $700 Billion Snake Oil
The big political news this weekend is that the Bush administration wants Congress to sign off on $700 billion to … well, it’s not exactly clear. From the article:
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City - Friday, September 19, 2008 12:38 - 0 Comments
Apply For a Lucrative Job at AIG!
Heh. Looks like AIG needs a new HR person! According to the job listing, “The ideal candidate will be comfortable dealing with employees and management at all levels and representing the organization at events and activities.” And, you know, dealing with the fallout of the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Also: Organizing the holiday party!
Funny enough, the job was posted a week ago. This means that a few days before the federal buyout, people were actually applying to work for this company. I hope they don’t mind working for free, since AIG probably can’t afford to pay them.
Photo: Flickr courtesy of Gene Hunt
Featured, On Campus, On-Campus Developing - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 23:04 - 6 Comments
Stern Professor Scores by Predicting our Current Economic Apocalypse
The recent economic slowdown – followed by the even more recent Wall Street implosion – was greeted by cries of “NOBODY COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS” from the permabull community. But a handful of economists did predict it – including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and our very own Stern professor Nouriel Roubini.
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City - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 14:32 - 1 Comment
Smaller Businesses May Benefit From Financial Rebuilding in New York
When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Wall Street entered a state of chaos. But once the dust settles at least somewhat, there may be an upside to the bank’s mighty fall: lower commercial real estate prices.
Lehman Brothers takes up a lot of space in New York. Due to companies like these buying up so much property, the few vacancies left have reached record prices to rent—the recent peak places price levels at over 70 dollars per square foot. If nothing else, the recent financial meltdowns of some of New York’s biggest banks will clear up some space , perhaps allowing smaller companies to finally set up shop in Manhattan.
Honestly, I’m just trying to look for a silver lining. We all are. And obviously, “there will be more available office space” is hardly a consolation to the thousands of workers who now find themselves out of jobs, the families that now have to deal with sudden loss of income, and the trust that may have finally broken between the American people and their financial institutions. There’s going to be a lot of clean-up to do, and things are going to be hard for a long time. But if this crash was the wakeup call our economy needed, well, I hate to say it, but it’s about time to start rebuilding.
Photo: Flickr courtesy of conorwithonen
Opinion - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:00 - 1 Comment
Fiddling While Wall Street Burns
If the Pulitzer Committee handed out an award for “Most Regrettably Timed Op-Ed,” then Donald Luskin would be a shoo-in for this year; via Matthew Yglesias, we find that he wrote a piece, published Sunday, called “Quit Doling Out That Bad-Economy Line” that endeavored to prove that, as John McCain would say, “the fundamentals of this economy are strong.”
That was, of course, the same day the Financial District exploded. Our very own Charlie Eisenhood, who knows a bit more about the subject, gave a brief rundown of the situation this morning.
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Opinion - Monday, September 15, 2008 23:56 - 7 Comments
Market Meltdown
The Dow closed down over 500 points today, its biggest drop in over six years, as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth biggest investment bank in America, filed for bankruptcy. It has also become increasingly clear that the economic downturn has no end in sight.
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